After banking 25 million, the company opens its wait list to bring the secret mobile payments service, already in testing at Stanford, to other college campuses July 16, 2013 9:15 AM PDT A Clinkle promo image shows off a few screens from the app. (Credit: Clinkle) Clinkle, the secretive mobile payments service backed by some of Silicon Valley's biggest names, is asking college students to sign up for its service, according to a press release. The company is still in stealth mode, with a pilot program at Stanford, but plans to launch at other colleges within the next year. It won't be available to the general public, just yet. Clinkle does mobile payments, like services provided by Square or PayPal, without changing or adding any new hardware to stores or to users' mobile devices, according to the company. Student can sign up for the waitlist by entering their university-issued email address on Clinkle's site, and colleges that have the highest percentage of their students signing up will get access. Related stories Mobile payments startup Clinkle nabs $25M in early investments The company has been super secretive about its technology and the college-only exclusiveness, similar to Facebook's initial service-coverage, could further incite curiosity and perhaps demand. A Clinkle spokesperson said said the company just wants to target a community its staff understands and one that is a "dense community that lives and eats in close quarters, always frequenting the same places." Clinkle's staff is largely made up of recent college grads. While Clinkle still hasn't revealed how the service works exactly, ValleyWag's anonymous source said it uses beeping sounds to communicate to the VeriFone machines that already exist in stores to make the transactions.
After banking 25 million, the company opens its wait list to bring the secret mobile payments service, already in testing at Stanford, to other college campuses
A Clinkle promo image shows off a few screens from the app.
(Credit: Clinkle)
Clinkle, the secretive mobile payments service backed by some of Silicon Valley's biggest names, is asking college students to sign up for its service, according to a press release.
The company is still in stealth mode, with a pilot program at Stanford, but plans to launch at other colleges within the next year. It won't be available to the general public, just yet. Clinkle does mobile payments, like services provided by Square or PayPal, without changing or adding any new hardware to stores or to users' mobile devices, according to the company.
Student can sign up for the waitlist by entering their university-issued email address on Clinkle's site, and colleges that have the highest percentage of their students signing up will get access.
The company has been super secretive about its technology and the college-only exclusiveness, similar to Facebook's initial service-coverage, could further incite curiosity and perhaps demand. A Clinkle spokesperson said said the company just wants to target a community its staff understands and one that is a "dense community that lives and eats in close quarters, always frequenting the same places." Clinkle's staff is largely made up of recent college grads.
While Clinkle still hasn't revealed how the service works exactly, ValleyWag's anonymous source said it uses beeping sounds to communicate to the VeriFone machines that already exist in stores to make the transactions.
