Payment platform Dwolla has been circulating around news headlines lately, and for good
reason. The startup recently announced that it is processing more than one million dollars in transactions per day. This news comes just seven months after launching its service and three months after achieving one million dollars in transactions per month.
Profile
Location: Des Moines, IA
Funding: $1.31 million
Founded: June 2008
Users: 20,000
Business Model: Dwolla charges merchants 25 cents per transaction.
User Experience
There are multiple ways to pay using Dwolla. The following scenario walks through the user experience of purchasing a coffee.
1) After establishing a profile, enter your bank account information. Here’s the email that describes how to verify your bank account:
2) Transfer funds from your bank account into your new Dwolla account. Dwolla confirms that funds are now available:
3) Find a business that accepts Dwolla payments. Dwolla Spots (mobile and online) locates a business near you, like this coffee shop:
3) To purchase your coffee, tell the cashier you’ll be paying with Dwolla. Find and select the merchant on Dwolla Spots, then enter your PIN and the payment amount.
4) Review the payment amount and send the money to the merchant.
5) The merchant completes the transaction using a Dwolla “Kiosk” on an iPhone, Android, Windows 7, or computer with a wi-fi connection. Here’s what it looks like from their side:
That’s it. There’s no dirty cash or digging out a credit card. And for the merchant, there is no extra hardware necessary and no need to store credit card information.