Rhombus Platform Shapes SMS Payments

Text-to-pay mobile service Rhombus offers merchants and customer a convenient way to exchange payments through phone messages.

“Unlike Square and Venmo the system doesn’t require an app. Instead, users simply text a special business number and all of the transactions are performed between the customer and the business,” TechCrunch reported Tuesday (June 8).

Rhombus works on any mobile device with text messaging capability and allows users to text in orders, send feedback or make payments to any businesses with a Rhombus number. Users can request a text message containing a list of the Rhombus-enabled businesses closest to them through the company’s website.

“Customers don’t have to sign up to chat with businesses, it’s like texting anyone on your contact list. Paying for things within the conversation is as simple as texting the amount you wish to send to the business,” co-founder Taiwo Oyeniyi told TechCrunch.

While offering a convenient solution for making payments on the go, the service provider claims to be a more secure payment option versus debit cards or checks, based on technology used to encrypt and tokenize payment information.

The company, which considers itself the “first conversational commerce platform,” has facilitated about $400,000 in transactions to date and aims to keep the payment process simple for all users.

“We started Rhombus to solve our own problems. My co-founder and I really wanted a simple way to send donations to our local church, which typically collected cash or checks in paper envelopes every Sunday,” Oyeniyi said. “We quickly saw interest from regular businesses that wanted a better way to accept payments. Adding messaging felt like a natural extension of that simplicity we offered our merchants and customers,” he added.

Sending payments through the Rhombus service is free when using a bank account or other supported funding method. Merchants are charged fees based on the volume of payments received. Rhombus is only available in the U.S. for now, but the company’s website mentions plans to add support for other countries soon.

With no app downloads or additional hardware required, along with the service being available on any phone, Rhombus joins a growing list of companies looking to take convenience to new levels with text messaging services. From on-demand delivery to traditional banking, SMS messaging has become a popular platform when attempting to better serve consumers.

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