Is Clinkle the Next Big Thing in Mobile Wallets?

Clinkle gained $25 million dollars in seed money, and with it, the nod from Silicon Valley that it may be a game changer in the mobile wallet landscape.

Founded by Stanford grad Lucas Duplan in 2009, Clinkle was first created with some dozen Stanford students. It first gained the attention and funding of professor, and later, president of the school, John Hennessy. Now it has the attention of over 18 investors, including Peter Thiel of Intel and Intuit.

Since its early buzz in beta in 2011, how it works exactly is still sort of a mystery. Beta testing began at Stanford, a move partially inspired by another college-aged tech innovator, Mark Zuckerberg, who incubated and tested Facebook on Harvard’s campus.

So far, user feedback is positive. This is due to Clinkle’s focus as primarily a software-based user and merchant system. There is no hardware to buy to enable merchants to accept payments. All that is necessary is that both parties have the Clinkle app on their smartphones which simplifies the entire purchasing process.

Also, Clinkle’s draw comes from its potential to be a social payment system where friends can pay each other through the app. Setup involves entering bank account information, creating a security code, and then adding friends who also have Clinkle installed on their smartphones.

Clinkle’s growth strategy involves launching at any college that gets 1,750 students to sign up. Inviting friends gets students a raffle ticket for prizes which include scholarships, trips to Oktoberfest, the 2014 World Cup, and even a ride on the Virgin Galactic rocket.

With such stratospheric marketing efforts and love from Silicon Valley, Clinkle is showing signs that it may make the grade in changing the way people spend.