Mobile point-of-sale solutions are helping small businesses in emerging markets expand their ability to accept electronic payments with affordable, easy-to-deploy technology. By lowering the barriers to card acceptance, these platforms enable merchants to reach more customers, increase sales opportunities, and participate more fully in the digital economy.
As payment acceptance continues to grow across developing markets, fintech providers are introducing innovative merchant services that combine mobile hardware, payment processing, and business management tools. These solutions are playing an important role in accelerating financial inclusion while giving small and medium-sized businesses access to payment capabilities that were once available only to larger merchants.
Clip, a merchant services company based in Mexico that is often compared with Square has announced that it has raised $8 million in a funding round led by Alta venture but the founding round also includes notable investors like American Express. Clip was created by two former PayPal employees and has notable domestic deals with leading payment service providers like Banorte, Banamex and Bancomed.
Commenting on the company, Adolfo Babatz, Clip’s co-founder & CEO said,
“Our product is designed from the ground up to satisfy merchant needs in emerging markets. We offer an incredibly simple solution that really helps merchants increase their sales. For example, with Clip, merchants can offer payments in installments to their clients with more than 18 issuers in Mexico. This makes small and medium businesses really competitive in the marketplace.”
Commenting on the investment by American Express, Rohit Bodas, partner, American Express Ventures said,
“We believe in the potential of Clip’s end-to-end payments technology as an important driver of commerce in emerging markets. This investment furthers our commitment to deliver additional value to small merchants, empowering them to grow their businesses through a seamless point-of-sale experience.”
In Latin America and in many regions around the world where developing countries represent a large number of the markets, many of the businesses located there are small businesses with limited electronic payment capabilities. While this is improving, companies like Clip and many others have the potential to help usher in a new generation of payment products and significantly improve electronic payment acceptance around the world.
The continued growth of mobile point-of-sale technology demonstrates its importance in expanding electronic payment acceptance among small businesses. As merchants seek cost-effective ways to serve more customers, simple and scalable payment solutions are becoming essential to business growth in emerging markets.
Investment in payment technology providers reflects strong confidence in the long-term expansion of digital commerce across developing economies. As adoption continues to increase, mobile payment acceptance solutions will remain a key driver of financial inclusion and merchant innovation.
Overview by Tristan Hugo-Webb, Associate Director, Global Payments Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group
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