Empresas y finanzas

First Data Makes Strategic Investment in ViVOtech



    First Data Corp. (NYSE:FDC), a global leader in electronic
    commerce and payment services, today announced it has made a strategic
    investment in ViVOtech and will use ViVOtech's collection of emerging
    technologies that include Near Field Communication (NFC) terminals and
    mobile commerce enablement. First Data's investment will come in the
    form of the company's participation as lead investor in ViVOtech's
    Series C round of financing.

    "We're excited about the opportunities in Near Field Communication
    and the role it will play as we continue to expand our offerings in
    this arena and maximize choice and convenience for consumers at the
    point of sale," said Barry McCarthy, president of Product Innovation
    at First Data Commercial Services. "As one of the many technologies
    First Data will be supporting, our recent investment in ViVOtech
    furthers our objective of bringing a new generation of terminals and
    mobile phone-enabled payment services to our financial institution and
    merchant clients."

    Near Field Communication is a new short-range wireless
    connectivity technology that can simplify the way consumers make
    payments. A recent report by ABI Research forecasts NFC chips to be
    embedded in 292 million handsets, or 20% of all phones worldwide, by
    2012. NFC technologies will allow consumers to take advantage of new
    mobile services such as cell phone promotions and loyalty programs,
    over the air (OTA) provisioning of credit, debit, and stored value
    cards, and contactless redemptions of coupons and offers at the point
    of purchase.

    "First Data's decision to take the lead in our Series C funding
    round and support our collection of technologies that include
    terminals, wallets and OTA provisioning is a strong validation of our
    business, technology direction and our services," said Michael
    Mullagh, chief executive officer, ViVOtech. "Given First Data's vast
    global footprint, this relationship will help accelerate the
    availability of these new services and the associated transformation
    of mobile phones into portable payment devices."

    Financial Technology Partners LP and FTP Securities LLC (together
    "FT Partners") acted as exclusive strategic and financial advisor
    to ViVOtech and its Board of Directors in this transaction.

    About First Data

    First Data Corp. (NYSE:FDC) is a leading provider of electronic
    commerce and payment solutions for businesses worldwide. Serving over
    5 million merchant locations, 1,900 card issuers and their customers,
    First Data powers the global economy by making it easy, fast and
    secure for people and businesses around the world to buy goods and
    services using virtually any form of payment. The company's portfolio
    of services and solutions includes merchant transaction processing
    services; credit, debit, private-label, gift, payroll and other
    prepaid card offerings; fraud protection and authentication solutions;
    electronic check acceptance services through TeleCheck; as well as
    Internet commerce and mobile payment solutions. The company's STAR
    Network offers PIN-secured debit acceptance at 2 million ATM and
    retail locations. For more information, visit www.firstdata.com.

    About ViVOtech

    ViVOtech (www.vivotech.com) is a market leader in contactless/NFC
    payment software, over the air (OTA) card provisioning, promotion, and
    transaction management infrastructure software, NFC smart posters, and
    contactless readers/writers. These innovative solutions allow
    consumers to make contactless payments with radio frequency-enabled
    credit cards, debit cards, key fobs, and NFC-enabled mobile phones.
    ViVOtech's products are used by some of the most prominent retailers
    in the United States. Currently, with more than 250,000 units in 22
    countries, ViVOtech's products are in use at movie theaters, fast food
    restaurants (QSR), casual dining establishments, convenience stores,
    gas stations, drug stores, grocery stores, buses, taxicabs and vending
    machine locations, enabling a wide variety of businesses to accept
    contactless/NFC payments. In 2007, ViVOtech was named #1 in New ABI
    Research contactless reader ranking. ViVOtech was also recognized as
    Top Contactless Payment Technology Vendor in Aberdeen Group's "Retail
    Contactless Payment Report"; In 2006, ViVOtech was honored with a
    MasterCard "Best Vendor Partner Award" as the first vendor to deliver
    stand-alone contactless readers for MasterCard PayPass customers. In
    2005, ViVOtech received the prestigious Frost & Sullivan technology
    award for its role in transforming the contactless payment industry
    and the first annual ETA Technology Innovation Award.