Dwolla

Dwolla
Type Private
Headquarters Des Moines, Iowa
Founder(s)
  • Ben Milne
  • Shane Neuerburg
Website www.dwolla.com
Type of site Online payment system
Registration Required
Users 500,000 (Fall 2013)
Launched December 1, 2009
Current status Active

Dwolla /dəˈwaːlə/ is a United States-only[1] e-commerce company that provides an online payment system and mobile payments network.

History

The company was founded in 2008 with services based only in Iowa. After raising US$1.31 million in funding,[2] Dwolla launched in the United States on December 1, 2009, with founders Ben Milne (CEO) and Shane Neuerburg (CTO), in Des Moines, Iowa, and with initially just a few small banks and retailers.[3] Transactions using Dwolla surpassed $1 million a week and its Iowa user-base was overtaken in mid-June 2011, with 20,000 users.[4] The company began with two employees and had approximately 15 employees as of mid-June 2011.[5]

Dwolla began with Veridian Credit Union for banking services, while The Members Group processes their transactions.[6]

Bitcoin

Dwolla is notable for its interest among users of Bitcoin, a digital currency. Some Bitcoin exchanges allow users to buy Bitcoins with dollars transferred to the exchange via Dwolla, and allow users to sell Bitcoins and have the proceeds transferred back to them using Dwolla. Although Dwolla representatives have said that they saw growth due to Bitcoin users, they do not offer any official endorsement of Bitcoins.[7] According to Dwolla customer support, Dwolla ceased dealing with bitcoin exchanges in October 2013.

Additional products and services

On May 25, 2011, Dwolla released its FiSync integration, which aims to allow instantaneous transactions instead of the typical 2–3 day of the Automated Clearing House (ACH) transactions.[2] As of June 2011, Dwolla has 11 financial institutions who have signed on, providing access to 600,000 potential customers.[3]

In June 2011, Dwolla started Grid, a service that allows a user to avoid entering their credit card information online, while reducing credit card fraud, and being a simple one-click option, similar to Facebook Connect. Grid uses the OAuth standard.

Dwolla's main service to people is that they use a bank account-based payment system, and charge a flat fee of $0.25 per transaction over $10 instead of a percentage. Credit card payment systems charge up to 3.5% of the total amount of the transaction to process those kinds of online payments.

As of April 2013, the Iowa Department of Revenue allows businesses that pay cigarette stamp taxes to now use Dwolla as a method of payment, helping reduce the time payments take as well as reducing processing costs.[8]

Iowa Governor Terry Branstad announced on January 6, 2014 that the state will expand the partnership to allow customers of Iowa Department of Transportation to pay fuel tax and vehicle registration costs online using the low-fee service.[9]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "International availability". Dwolla.com.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Tsotsis, Alexia (March 25, 2011). "Dwolla's FiSync Lets You Instantly Access Cash, Eliminates ACH Wait Times For Banks". TechCrunch. Retrieved January 22, 2012.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Wood, Geoff (December 1, 2009). "Dwolla launches in Iowa". Silicon Prairie News. Retrieved January 22, 2012.
  4. ↑ Alexia, Tsotsis (June 16, 2011). "Payments Service Dwolla Hits $1M A Week In Transactions". TechCrunch. Retrieved January 22, 2012.
  5. ↑ Milne, Ben (June 17, 2011). "We've officially passed $1M a week in transactions". Dwolla blog. Retrieved January 22, 2012.
  6. ↑ Needleman, Rafe (December 17, 2010). "Cash is dead, says Dwolla". CNET News. Retrieved January 22, 2012.
  7. ↑ Schreiber, Danny (June 21, 2011). "Bitcoin: What is it and how is Dwolla involved in its marketplace?". Silicon Prairie News. Retrieved January 22, 2012.
  8. ↑ "Iowa Government: Dwolla and Electronic Payments In, Paper Checks Out". www.creditcardprocessingspace.com. Retrieved April 17, 2013.
  9. ↑ http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20140106/BUSINESS04/301060078/State-Iowa-expands-partnership-Dwolla?gcheck=1&nclick_check=1

External links