MID Among Investors in New Payment App

RAPAPORT… Mobile payment app Mazalit has raised $1.9 million in
funding from diamond companies, and aims to begin piloting the
technology in the near future.



Israel-based MID House of Diamonds, Benma Diamonds, Novel Collection
and HND Diamonds are among the new investors in the start-up, founder and CEO
Ze’ev Maimon told Rapaport News this week. It aims to use the money to develop
its technology, as well as to launch a viable initial
product. It is also seeking to get more banks on board to handle users’
transfers.




Mazalit claims to be the diamond industry’s first app for
making digital payments. The name — pronounced ma-ZAHL-it — reflects its aim to
speed up and ease the process of closing transactions: Diamond traders
traditionally seal deals with the word “mazal,” a Hebrew phrase referring to good fortune. 



The app will enable users to finalize payment in under 10
seconds, with about 90% lower fees than most dealers currently have to pay when
wiring money across borders, Maimon said in November. At that time, the company had already secured $1.2 million of the investment — from
diamond logistics firm Malca Amit, and from Ari Wolff, formerly of polished
manufacturer Leo Schachter.




In the upcoming pilot with MID, Mazalit will assess how
the platform meets large diamond businesses’ needs. Oded Zehavi, a former
executive at digital-payment companies PayPal and Payoneer, and a senior
adviser to Mazalit, attended the recent Hong Kong trade fairs to discuss current payment challenges with industry members.




“We had very good feedback from clients and service
providers at the Hong Kong show,” Maimon said this week. “The market is
yearning for a real solution that will be acceptable [for] regulators and banks
around the world, and will reduce [the] risk and cost of wires from day one.”




Maimon declined to say how much each investor had
contributed, or how much equity they had each taken in the company.





Image: Oded, Dotan and David Meirov of MID, alongside Oded Zehavi.