The company’s goal is to make mobile payments accessible, both for customers and for the mainly bricks-and-mortar local businesses. It was set up a year ago by three partners, Phil Bückendorf, Max Noelle and Xavier de Ryckel, who have developed the iBeacon technology needed for their system.
The Downtown idea is to decentralise the point-of-sale by putting a POS into the hands of each customer at every Downtown partner business. The service comprises an app users’ phone plus a beacon installed at every table in a restaurant or café. When customers go to a place that is equipped with the right beacons, they can look at the menu, order directly from their smartphone and also settle the bill via the same app, provided they have first registered their bank account details. The beacon tells the waiters the table number so that they can take the food to the right table.
For the business owner no complex installation procedure is required. Downtown provides the beacons, which were designed in conjunction with Estimote, a startup specialising in developing this type of sensor, and has created the app, which enables staff to see which orders are coming in from which table. The startup takes a commission of 3 - 5% on every purchase made via the app.
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