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Mobile point-of-sale crowdfunding

  • US 9,773,242 B1
  • Filed: 03/19/2015
  • Issued: 09/26/2017
  • Est. Priority Date: 03/19/2015
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

  • receiving, by a payment processing system, from a mobile computing device associated with a merchant, transaction information for a plurality of transactions conducted between the merchant and a plurality of customers, wherein the mobile computing device has a register application installed thereon, which, when executed, configures the mobile computing device as a point-of-sale (POS) terminal to receive an input indicating a product or service for purchase by an individual customer, the register application further configuring the POS terminal to receive payment card information from a payment card reader coupled with the mobile computing device to enable a transfer of funds from the individual customer to the merchant, the register application further configuring the POS terminal to communicate corresponding transaction information over a network to the payment processing system;

    generating, by the payment processing system, a data structure including attribute information of the plurality of customers of the merchant, wherein the attribute information is determined, at least partially, from aggregated transaction information received from the POS terminal of the merchant;

    receiving, by the payment processing system, from the register application on the POS terminal, a request from the merchant to establish a crowdfunding project, the request including an amount of funding requested and one or more defined criteria for potential investors;

    calculating, by the payment processing system, crowdfunding terms based on the amount of funding requested and a transaction history for the merchant, the crowdfunding terms including an approved funding amount, and repayment terms providing for repayment of the approved funding amount plus earnings to one or more investors, the repayment terms including a portion of each transaction processed for the merchant by the payment processing system to withhold for repayment of the approved funding amount plus earnings to the one or more investors;

    receiving, by the payment processing system, from the register application on the POS terminal, a request to process a financial payment transaction conducted between the merchant and a first customer of the plurality of customers using the POS terminal;

    accessing, by the payment processing system, the data structure to determine attributes of the first customer for determining that the first customer is a potential investor based on comparing the determined attributes of the first customer with the one or more defined criteria from the merchant;

    in response to determining, by the payment processing system, that the first customer is a potential investor, sending crowdfunding information to the POS terminal to cause the register application to configure the POS terminal to present on a display associated with the POS terminal an offer for enabling the first customer to invest in the crowdfunding project, the offer including crowdfunding terms and an investment amount;

    receiving, by the payment processing system, an acceptance of the offer including the crowdfunding terms, wherein the register application configures the POS terminal to receive the acceptance from the first customer and send the acceptance to the payment processing system;

    processing, by the payment processing system, payment card information from the first customer to fund the investment amount, wherein the register application configures the POS terminal to receive the payment card information from the card reader and send the payment card information to the payment processing system;

    withholding, by the payment processing system, the portion of each transaction processed via the POS terminal for the merchant by the payment processing system for repayment of the approved funding amount plus earnings to the one or more investors, wherein the first customer is one of the one or more investors;

    apportioning, by the payment processing system, the portion of each transaction processed for the merchant by the payment processing system amongst the one or more investors; and

    transmitting, by the payment processing system, the apportioned amount to a respective account associated with each investor of the one or more investors.

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