Years ago a group of Aussie banks got together to create a payment platform they’d hope would rival Apple Pay. It didn’t and they all caved (obviously), but that left them with Beem It, which they’ve now sold off to Aussie debit card powerhouse eftpos.
For those of you unfamiliar with Beem It, think of it as Australia’s Venmo, except no one ever really got on board with it and has largely been made irrelevant with the introduction of PayID.
To date there have been 1.4 million downloads of Beem It, according to today’s press release. It fails to mention how many active users there are or even unique users for that matter. I guess there’s enough though, with eftpos CEO Stephen Benton announcing that they’d acquired the banking spin-off in full.
As to what eftpos plan on doing with the platform? Well that remains to be seen, but it appears the acquisition has come at the right time, extending a lifeline to what is an impressive, yet largely unused application.