LevelUp Adds $12 Million in New Funding

SCVNGR’s mobile payments platform is getting another big boost. The maker of LevelUp, an app that links credit and debit cards to mobile phones, has announced that it has raised an additional $12 million from Highland Capital, Google Ventures, Balderton Capital, Continental Investors, and Transmedia Capital. The latter two companies are new investors.

“LevelUp adds tremendous value for both merchants and consumers and has quickly accelerated to become a leading player in a highly competitive space,” Google Ventures Partner Rich Miner said in a statement. “We’re impressed by the product’s success to date and are excited to provide additional support as LevelUp scales nationally and the mobile payments industry continues to evolve at a fast pace.”

LevelUp gained more than 200,000 users since it launched in July 2011. Additionally, more than 3,000 merchants offer the app. SCVNGR, which has raised $32 million so far and is close to closing a second part of the round, will use the money to staff up its sales team and further develop the product.

“Our vision is to make LevelUp the first interchange-zero payment network,” SCVNGR Chief Ninja Seth Priebatsch said. “That means we’re working to bring the cost of moving money down to nothing and enabling businesses to re-invest that cost into growing their businesses, by attracting new customers and bringing them back more often.”

Noah Davis is a senior editor at Street Fight.