mFoundry Awarded Best Virtual Prepaid Card in Fourth Annual Paybefore Awards
Innovative Card for Starbucks recognized as Best in Category for 2009

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - March 2, 2010 - mFoundry, a leading provider of mobile financial services, announced today that its ground-breaking work for Starbucks was recognized best in category for Best Virtual Prepaid Card in the Fourth Annual Paybefore Awards.

Paybefore Awards are the most prestigious recognitions of excellence in the worldwide prepaid and stored value card industry. They are presented annually by Prepaid Media, whose Paybefore publications are the leading source of industry information for the global prepaid community.

“With the Starbucks Mobile pilot, mFoundry is pushing delivery of prepaid services to a new place—using a mobile device to make it easier and more convenient for cardholders to conduct a multitude of tasks related to their Starbucks cards,” said Marilyn Bochicchio, Paybefore CEO and chair of the judging panel. “This solution for iPhone users is forward thinking and a significant prototype for integrating the prepaid and mobile worlds.” 

“The concept of mobilizing gift cards has been much discussed in recent years and might appear to be an easy task. However, doing so in a simple and elegant fashion while allowing the consumer to adopt a completely new interaction with their stored value cards is an art - one that mFoundry prides itself on delivering,” said Jon Squire, SVP of Wallet & Payments for mFoundry.

Developed by mFoundry and launched on September 22, 2009, the Starbucks Card Mobile application was the first national mobile gift card deployment in the U.S. This innovative solution is available on the iPhone/iPod Touch and offers customers mobile access to an unprecedented range of features including the ability to consolidate all current gift cards onto a personal mobile device, check card balances in real time, reload & auto-reload balances remotely and locate stores that can accept payment. Additionally, the product introduction includes an added feature in select stores that also have the ability to accept payments directly from a customer’s mobile device.

"In mobile payments there rarely is such a perfect nexus of customer purchasing behavior and early adopters of technology; the combination of loyal Starbucks coffee drinkers and savvy iPhone customers is a dream come true for mobile commerce," continued Squire. “We were honored to be recognized by Paybefore and even more excited to win in our category.”

mFoundry’s retail solution mobilizes gift card and loyalty programs offering retailers a proven solution that is secure, scalable and flexible. Using this platform, retailers can empower customers at the point-of-purchase and use this solution for queue management.

About mFoundry
mFoundry provides a comprehensive mobile banking and payments solution for banks, credit unions, processors and merchants.  With specific programs for financial institutions of all sizes, the out-of-the-box platform supports full service mobile banking and mobile payments and serves as an ideal foundation for mobile wallets. The platform has been adopted by some of the largest banks, mobile operators and bank technology providers in the U.S.

mFoundry is based in the San Francisco Bay Area and has been recognized as one of “10 Emerging Wireless Players to Watch” by IDC as well as the top "Tech Company to Watch" and a three-time top “Innovator” by Bank Technology News.  For more information on mFoundry, please visit www.mfoundry.com . 

About Paybefore
Paybefore is the leading information provider to prepaid and stored value industry professionals, offering the latest news, commentary and analysis. Paybefore’s family of industry publications include: Paybefore.com™, a searchable online information portal; Paybefore News™, daily news briefs delivered electronically; Paybefore News International™, a weekly compilation of prepaid news and events from outside the United States; Paybefore Update™, a downloadable enewsletter delivered 20 times a year; Paybefore Legal™, a downloadable enewsletter covering the legislative, regulatory and judicial developments in prepaid, as well as feature articles by leading attorneys in the field; Paybefore Magazine™, a biannual print publication highlighting the best of Paybefore; and Paybefore Buyer’s Guide™, available online and in print. Visit us at www.paybefore.com .