type private headquarters boston massachusetts united states area served worldwide founder s seth priebatsch employees 80 website www.thelevelup.com type of site mobile payments registration required available in english launched march 2011 current status active levelup is an american mobile payments platform created by boston massachusetts based start up scvngr . 1 the levelup mobile application uses qr code technology to allow for mobile transactions to be made at local businesses via iphone and android phones . 1 contents 1 history 2 overview 3 references 4 further reading 5 external links history edit levelup was initially launched in march 2011 2 and operated for its first 3 months as a daily deals platform . 3 in july 2011 levelup shifted away from the daily deal space to focus exclusively on their mobile payments solution . 4 in july 2013 around 200 000 users and 3 000 companies were using levelup . 5 in october 2014 around 14 000 stores were using levelup . 6 overview edit the levelup mobile application for iphone android and windows phone allows registered users to securely link their debit or credit card to a unique qr code displayed within the app . to pay with levelup users scan the qr code on their phone at levelup terminals located at local businesses who accept levelup as a form of payment . 1 some merchants that accept levelup as a form of payment also offer monetary savings to users . 7 users are given first time visit specials the first time they make a transaction at the merchant s location . users can also unlock credit to a merchant s store after spending a certain amount at the merchant s location . 4 as of june 2016 levelup is available for businesses in the boston 2 chicago 1 washington dc northern virginia philadelphia 4 st. louis new york city 4 atlanta san francisco 4 dallas san diego minneapolis kansas city and seattle areas . references edit a b c d wong wailin february 16 2012 . loyalty program levelup to launch in chicago . chicago tribune . retrieved june 14 2016 . a b kirsner scott march 11 2011 . test driving scvngr s new levelup app for local discounts . boston globe . retrieved june 14 2016 . jennifer van grove 10 march 2011 . scvngr pilots new hybrid mobile app for local merchant deals with game mechanics . mashable . a b c d e sutter john d. 12 october 2011 . levelup app aims to keep coupon users coming back . cnn . chen brian x. july 12 2012 . levelup tries dropping the transaction fee for mobile payments . the new york times . retrieved june 14 2016 . shontell alyson april 16 2014 . payment startup levelup thinks it has found a way to charge merchants a 0 % credit card processing fee . business insider . retrieved june 14 2016 . martinez edecio august 29 2011 . levelup challenges groupon s model with trio of deals . cbs news . retrieved june 14 2016 . further reading edit empson rip september 6 2012 . on a mission to be mobile payment agnostic levelup to roll out nfc capable terminals . techcrunch . retrieved june 14 2016 . external links edit official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title levelup & oldid 726120979 categories mobile technologyinternet companies of the united statespayment systemshidden categories official website different in wikidata and wikipedia navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 20 june 2016 at 05 02 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view