Seconds Streamlines Mobile Payment and Launches A Charity Using Twilio SMS

Seconds Streamlines Mobile Payment and Launches A Charity Using Twilio SMS

There are six billion active cell phone subscriptions worldwide. Nick Hughes, CEO of Seconds, wanted to develop a service that would allow all of those people on all of those phones to easily exchange money, regardless of apps or operating systems. This is the idea behind online payment system, Seconds.

Seconds allows you to send money to whoever you want via web or Twilio SMS. Once you and your friend are signed up, you can simply text a dollar amount to the proper number and Seconds handles the back end money transfer using Stripe and Dwolla. Users can either search their friends’ names to text them money, or type in a keyword to initiate an automatic transfer to a specific merchant whether they’re your friend you need to split the dinner bill with,  or your landlord you need to sent rent to.

After Hurricane Sandy, Nick wanted to expand Seconds from friend to friend transactions, and bring the whole nation in for a little friendly competition. Seconds’ first charity effort, GiveNation, challenges states to help raise money for Hurricane Sandy relief. The state who contributes the most to relief efforts will by the end of the holiday season will be dubbed “The Most Giving State” by Seconds.

To Nick, GiveNation is the perfect use of the Seconds’ platform. Nick said that once they heard the forecasts of Hurricane Sandy’s damage “got in contact with FEMA that night and the whole process got underway.”

The Seconds team is currently partnering with nonprofits and charities to help them leverage SMS donation for good. Get started with Seconds and register to donate to GiveNation here.