London: UK start-up Ensygnia, the Onescan mobile payments company – today confirmed it had successfully closed its final seed funding round raising more than $3.3m in cash and services, in phased investments, in little more than a year since commencing operations at the start of 2012.

Among the principle investors is Telefonica’s start-up business accelerator Wayra which is providing office space, Board-advisors, support and mentoring, as well as access to key Telefonica services and a significant cash contribution.

Ensygnia – which already has a granted UK patent for its Onescan process – said the investment would be used to move out of private beta and accelerate its business internationally and with key merchant and payment partners. The company will also further develop its UK & international Onescan patent portfolio.

Co-Founder and CEO Richard H Harris said: “We have just completed one of the most successful and largest seed funding rounds for a pre-revenue, pre-product company in the UK this year and have now secured a market valuation of more than $20m.

“We are already moving quickly with a wide range of potential Onescan partners and customers and this backing is helping us to accelerate even faster – by expanding our development team for example,” he added.

“Through Wayra we have also secured a very powerful global mobile partner in Telefonica and I believe we are ready for take-off. With this level of support and backing I believe we will very quickly demonstrate our market traction and move towards a significant Series A VC investment round as the next stage in our international growth.”

Harris confirmed that in addition to Wayra, other backers in the final seed round included both the founders, all the members of the investing management team, a personal investment by Rhoddy Swire the founder partner of Pantheon Ventures and Jesus College Cambridge among others.

For Wayra, UK Academy director, Charmaine Eggberry commented: “We are delighted to have Ensygnia in the London Academy – their solution, their approach, and their plans are a strong strategic and cultural fit with Wayra and also with Telefonica. We firmly believe we can help accelerate their business and get them to the next stage.

“More than 3,400 companies applied to Wayra in this selection round,” she added, “and the companies we have chosen represent the cream of the crop.”

Source : RealWire