Touchstone Innovations has provided $5.1m to the series B round, having previously led a $10m series A for the company in 2015.
Yoyo Wallet, a UK-based mobile wallet technology producer, closed a £12m ($15.3m) series B round yesterday that featured Touchstone Innovations.
Touchstone Innovations, the commercialisation firm spun out of Imperial and formerly known as Imperial Innovations, provided £4m in capital. The round was led by the investment arm of wholesale and food retailer Metro Group’s digital unit.
Woodford Investment Management also took part in the funding round.
The company was co-founded in in 2013 by Touchstone Innovations and entrepreneurs from the credit card industry, Alain Falys, Dave Nicholson and Michael Rolph.
Yoyo Wallet has developed an app that combines mobile payment and loyalty rewards. The platform also includes marketing tools to enable retailers to target consumers in store.
The app was launched in early 2014 across food and drink outlets at Imperial College London. It has since grown to more than 1,700 outlets and counts more than 400,000 users.
The money will support a continued expansion, with Yoyo aiming to target high-street retailers and independent shops. It will also support an international expansion into Europe and the further development of their artificial intelligence marketing platform.
The company previously announced a partnership with coffee chain Caffè Nero to provide its mobile payment and loyalty app.
Touchstone led a $10m series A round in 2015, having also led a $5m seed round in 2014 with participation from telecoms firm Telefónica and Firestartr.
Touchstone had earlier also supplied £250,000 in funding to help launch Yoyo in 2013.
