The West has WhatsApp, China has WeChat, and the rest of Asia has Line. Just as its instant messaging competitors are rapidly expanding into other markets and diversifying their offerings, Line has decided to try its hand at mobile payments. In an effort to boost its own movile payments service, Line has acquired WebPay which is a mobile payments service that’s geared more towards developers.
Messaging app company Line announced today that it’s buying WebPay Holdings with an eye toward boosting its abilities in mobile payments. WebPay built a payment service aimed at developers. “The company is highly praised both at home and abroad for its cutting-edge technology, as well as service which offers easy to integrate API, short review period (3 working days in the shortest), secure payment system that does not process, transfer and store card data at member stores,” Line said of WebPay in a statement on the news. Ultimately, the deal should help Line grow its Line Pay mobile payments service, which launched in December.
