Clinkle Explained

Clinkle
Type:Privately held company
Industry:Mobile payments
Fate:Pivot
Foundation:Palo Alto, California,
United States
Founder:Lucas Duplan[1] [2] [3] [4]
Location City:San Francisco
Key People:Jim Breyer
Richard Branson
Barry McCarthy
Products:Clinkle App
Clinkle Card
Treats SDK
Location Country:United States

Clinkle was a mobile payments company founded in 2012. In 2013 they raised $25 million[5] and the product launched to college students on September 24, 2014.[6]

History

Clinkle was founded in 2011 by Lucas Duplan, then a computer science student at Stanford University.[7] [8] Duplan had decided to work on mobile payments during a study abroad program in London after his freshman year. Upon returning to Stanford, Duplan received guidance from Mehran Sahami, a professor who taught the university's introductory programming methodology class.[9] Clinkle rented a house in Palo Alto, California using money from Duplan's parents and a summer program through Highland Capital Partners.[10] [11] With approximately a dozen students building the app, it ran a beta test at Stanford in which testers could send payments to each other.

Through VMware co-founder Diane Greene, Duplan met Accel partner Jim Breyer, who became interested in the company after discussing it with Stanford professors and graduate students. Breyer became an investor following his first meeting and product demonstration with Duplan and participated in a round of funding for the company.[12] By June 2013, Clinkle had raised $25 million from a broad range of investors, including Greene, Andreessen Horowitz, Intel Capital, Intuit, Peter Thiel, Owen Van Natta, and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff.[13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] The funding amounted to the largest seed round in Silicon Valley.[19] Shortly after, Duplan moved the 50-person company from Mountain View to San Francisco.[20] In 2016 a photo was leaked of CEO Duplan and Richard Branson burning wads of fake $100 bills.[21]

In October 2013, former Netflix chief financial officer Barry McCarthy became Clinkle's chief operating officer,[22] and two more former Netflix executives later joined as vice presidents.[23] McCarthy left Clinkle after less than 5 months at the company.[24] Near the end of the year, the company laid off a quarter of its employees.[25] In 2015, seven core employees quit and the remaining team was believed to be mostly consultants providing support and no more than 12, down from 70 several years ago.[26] Forbes reported in January 2016 that investors were losing patience with the lack of any market product and were requesting a return of funds.[21]

In November 2014 Lucas Duplan was listed on Forbes 30 Under 30,[27] a pick the publication regretted nine years later, placing Duplan on its Hall of Shame, featuring ten picks it wished it could take back.[28] [29]

Product

Clinkle released an app for download on Google Play and the iTunes Store. Clinkle first launched on college campuses and targeted merchants near college campuses.[30] [31] Clinkle announced on September 26, 2013, that after two months of opening their college waitlists, over 100,000 students had signed up despite no clear product description.[32] [33] Until September 2014, the app had very limited functionality and only allowed users to join a waitlist with a launch date of September 2014.[34]

Before launching, the company had released limited information about its product, despite significant press coverage. The product was intended to include a mobile app that served as an online wallet. Wallets would be linked to existing credit cards and bank accounts. A June 2013 report by TechCrunch stated that the app was going to use high-frequency sound to send payments between devices; however, the section was shortly retracted. Clinkle confirmed that the product would not require near field communication, a wireless technology used by Google Wallet and Apple Pay. Clinkle stated that the product would also provide merchants with information about their customers for the purpose of targeted sales promotions.

Despite its initial launch as an alternative payments processing system, it lost its technological edge to new products like Venmo, a peer-to-peer payments app, and later Apple Pay, which achieved what the company had originally set out to do.[21] The company decided to pivot, and launched to the public on September 24, 2014, a new flagship downloadable application aimed at college students.[6]

The launch debuted a Clinkle Card that allowed users to earn rewards for paying at stores and online. After every seventh payment, Clinkle card users were awarded a "Treat" to send to a friend, which had a chance of earning the recipient a free purchase.[35]

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Shontell. Alyson. A bunch of Clinkle employees just left and the startup apparently tried to sell itself to Apple. 2020-07-02. Business Insider.
  2. Web site: Clinkle Implodes As Employees Quit In Protest Of CEO. 2020-07-02. TechCrunch. 16 May 2015 . en-US.
  3. Web site: Shontell. Alyson. A SILICON VALLEY DISASTER: A 21-Year-Old Stanford Kid Got $30 Million, Then Everything Blew Up. 2020-07-02. Business Insider.
  4. Web site: Mac. Ryan. Clinkle Up In Smoke As Investors Want Their Money Back. 2020-07-02. Forbes. en.
  5. News: Mobile payments startup Clinkle nabs $25M in early investments. 2013-06-27. CNET. 2018-07-03. en.
  6. Web site: $30 Million And Three Years Later, Mysterious Payments App Clinkle Finally Launches. . 16 October 2016.
  7. Web site: Silicon Valley Luminaries Bet on Clinkle, a Payments Start-Up . Wingfield . Nick . June 27, 2013 . . January 19, 2014.
  8. News: Clinkle Raises Celebrity-Filled $25M Round As It Gears Up To Eliminate The Physical Wallet . Gallagher . Billy . June 27, 2013 . . January 19, 2014.
  9. Web site: How a 22-Year-Old Stanford Grad Won Silicon Valley's Money Chase . Roose . Kevin . June 28, 2013 . . January 23, 2014.
  10. Web site: Highland Capital Partners Announces Summer@Highland 2011 Teams . July 20, 2011 . . April 27, 2014 . April 11, 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140411015809/http://www.hcp.com/news/newsdetails.php/id/92871 . dead .
  11. Web site: Startup's Deep Roots: Stanford . Efrati . Amir . April 3, 2013 . . January 23, 2014.
  12. Web site: Facebook backers make big early bet on college start-up . Dembosky . April . June 27, 2013 . . January 26, 2014.
  13. Web site: Mobile payments startup Clinkle nabs $25M in early investments . Tam . Donna . June 27, 2013 . . January 19, 2014.
  14. News: With $25m in the bank, Clinkle takes on mobile payments . Nusca . Andrew . June 27, 2013 . . January 19, 2014.
  15. Web site: Startup Clinkle Gets $25 Million to Create Mobile Payment Standard . Wasserman . Todd . June 27, 2013 . . January 19, 2014.
  16. Web site: Startup Clinkle Has A High Frequency Plan To Push Mobile Payments . June 27, 2013 . . January 19, 2014.
  17. Web site: Payments Startup Clinkle Raises $25 Million Seed Round . Geron . Tomio . June 27, 2013 . . January 19, 2014.
  18. Web site: Clinkle Up In Smoke As Investors Want Their Money Back. Mac. Ryan. Forbes. en. 2020-03-04.
  19. News: Payments startup Clinkle nabs more talent from Netflix as it rounds out its exec team . Drake . Sarah . December 4, 2013 . Silicon Valley Business Journal . . January 23, 2014.
  20. News: Clinkle raises massive $25M seed round to transform how we pay for things . Grant . Rebecca . June 27, 2013 . . January 23, 2014.
  21. Clinkle Up In Smoke As Investors Want Their Money Back. Ryan. Mac. Forbes. September 23, 2013. 16 October 2016.
  22. Web site: Ex-Netflix CFO joins stealth payments startup Clinkle . Primack . Dan . October 22, 2013 . . January 23, 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140203101151/http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2013/10/22/netflix-payments-clinkle/ . February 3, 2014 . dead .
  23. News: Stealthy Payments Startup Clinkle Brings On Two Former Netflixers To Fill Out Its Exec Ranks . Lawler . Ryan . December 4, 2013 . . January 23, 2014.
  24. Web site: Clinkle's Still a Hot Mess as Its Big Shot COO Departs (Updated). Jason Del. Rey. 13 March 2014. 16 October 2016.
  25. Web site: Layoffs at stealth payment startup Clinkle . Primack . Dan . December 9, 2013 . . January 26, 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140128071739/http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2013/12/09/layoffs-clinkle/ . January 28, 2014 . dead .
  26. Web site: Clinkle Implodes As Employees Quit In Protest Of CEO. Josh. Constine. 16 May 2015 . 16 October 2016.
  27. Web site: Vardi . Nathan . 30 Under 30 Finance: The Top Young Traders, Bankers And Dealmakers . 2024-01-30 . Forbes . en.
  28. Web site: Team . Forbes Under 30 . Hall Of Shame: The 10 Most Dubious People Ever To Make Our 30 Under 30 List . 2024-01-30 . Forbes . en.
  29. Web site: Porter . Jon . 2023-11-29 . Forbes publishes 30 Under 30 “Hall of Shame.” . 2024-01-30 . The Verge . en.
  30. Web site: Pressure Is on Stealth Payments Startup Clinkle as It Raises $25 Million From Big-Name Investors . Del Rey . Jason . June 27, 2013 . . January 19, 2014.
  31. Web site: Clinkle raises $25 million to kill Square . Primack . Dan . June 27, 2013 . . January 19, 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140113022103/http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2013/06/27/clinkle-25-million-square/ . January 13, 2014 .
  32. Web site: Richard Branson Invests in a Startup That No One Understands Yet . Huspeni . Andrea . 2013 . . January 19, 2014.
  33. Web site: Clinkle becomes a tech celebrity magnet, landing Richard Branson as an investor . Fitchard . Kevin . September 26, 2013 . . January 19, 2014.
  34. Web site: Stanford's $25M secret: Payments startup Clinkle wants to make your college cashless . Fitchard . Kevin . June 27, 2013 . . January 23, 2014.
  35. Web site: Mobile Wallet Laughingstock Clinkle Finally Launches To Let You Pay Friends And Earn "Treats". Josh. Constine. 23 September 2014 . 16 October 2016.

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