Samsung Invests in Skipify’s Digital Wallet Expansion

Frictionless commerce company Skipify says it has landed new funding from Samsung’s investment group.

The company says the investment by Samsung Next, announced Thursday (Oct. 19), will let Skipify accelerate the development of its digital wallet.

“We invested in Skipify because of the potential this seamless and native checkout experience could bring to Samsung users and beyond,” Carlos Castellanos, investor at Samsung Next, said in a news release.

“We’re excited to join them on this journey, as they embrace the challenge of defining new opportunities and aim to shape the future of shopping experiences.”

Based in San Mateo, Calif., Skipify works with financial institutions (FIs) to pull and store consumers’ on-file payment and billing address info after authenticating shoppers at checkout.

According to the release, Skipify’s Connected Wallet links merchants, shoppers, and FIs at the moment of purchase “for the first time.” The wallet is connected to some of the world’s biggest financial institutions, such as American Express.

American Express is also a Skipify investor — through its Amex Ventures — and in August teamed with the company in a partnership that lets American Express users link their cards with participating merchants.

The companies say this gets rid of the need for customers to manually enter their payment and billing details, thus improving merchant approval and conversion rates.

Other investors in Skipify include PayPal Ventures, Okta Ventures and Synchrony, PYMNTS reported last year.

Samsung’s investment in Skipify’s digital wallet efforts comes as consumers continue to embrace this payment method.

“Digital Bill Payments: Frequent Mobile Wallet Bill Pay Users the Most Satisfied,” a PYMNTS Intelligence/ACI Worldwide collaboration, found that 60% of consumers had used digital wallets to pay bills. That was up from 49% the last time the issue was studied.

“The study found that 89% of mobile wallet bill pay users are at least somewhat satisfied with the experience of paying bills using a mobile wallet, and 61% reported being very or extremely satisfied,” PYMNTS wrote in June. “Overall, 23% of consumers used mobile wallets to pay bills at least weekly.”

And as the title of that report suggests, satisfaction is highest among frequent digital wallet users, who have tapped into the ability to consolidate their bills and pay them in one place.