A “Students-Only” Play on Mobile Payments

Moocho.com, like the myriad of other mobile payment hopefuls, turns smartphones into wallets. What distinguishes this California-based startup from the others is the niche that it’s aiming its product at. It's only looking for users among college students.

The closed-loop application works like this: A college student downloads the app and plugs in his/her credit card or debit card so that he/she can make payments at participating merchants using a smartphone.

To encourage usage, Moocho incentivizes the process through instant rewards and loyalty rewards – much like what PayPal and Google, are doing. However, Moocho offers students an added feature: users can charge food and grocery transactions to mom and dad, if the parents agree to connect their cards as well. Moocho says valid purchases are automatically sent to the parents, while other charges are automatically billed to the student’s card.

The startup is pushing its product under the name Moocho Open Tab using the slogan “Pay with Moocho Open Tab & save on every purchase all over campus. Instantly, automatically, and for free”.