NEW YORK, NY -- (Marketwire) -- 01/16/13 -- Zipmark™, a pioneer in mobile and online payments, today announced the national availability of its 100% secure digital check payment platform, the first online and mobile payment system designed to deposit guaranteed funds into a business's operating account on the morning of the next business day. The primary purpose of Zipmark is to improve accounts receivables and payables for small businesses as many firms are still stuck using paper checks as a result of exorbitant transaction fees associated with other types of payment platforms. Zipmark's transaction fee is only 1% with a $5 cap.

In a recent payment industry report, titled Still Paying With Paper: Small Businesses Continue to Write and Receive Checks, about 50% "of paper checks written in the U.S., not including government checks, involve a small business." Many small businesses within professional services such as legal, accounting and landscaping receive a majority of their payments from customers via paper check. With Zipmark digital checks, small businesses can literally send an invoice to a customer on a Monday and receive good funds deposited directly into a business's operating account on Tuesday morning.

Software engineer Jake Howerton, and former Citigroup executive, Jay Bhattacharya, founded Zipmark because they realized that despite the availability of electronic payments and electronic invoicing, businesses were still going to the mailbox to collect payments. Utilizing Bhattacharya's deep financial services background and Howerton's software development experience, the two developed a method of payment that is inexpensive, risk-free and simple to integrate via the Zipmark API to any existing invoicing platform.

"Zipmark secure digital checks improve the way small businesses send and collect money from their customers by bringing check payments into the 21st century," said Jay Bhattacharya, CEO and co-founder of Zipmark. "Zipmark is as much a risk management platform as it is a payment platform. We take on the risk of the transaction and guarantee funds to billers."

WorkingPoint, Inc., a leading online small business management and invoicing solution, saw the importance of improving not only the way businesses invoice clients; but also the way businesses collect funds from clients.

Sam Hodges, Co-founder of Endurance Lending Network and Board Member of WorkingPoint, remarked, "WorkingPoint works with thousands of small businesses. Many of these businesses are still stuck receiving paper checks in the mail. Our customers are frustrated with the delays and the hassles of dealing with paper checks. We decided to integrate Zipmark as a payment option on the invoices our customers create because Zipmark enables our clients to receive funds quickly and for a fraction of the administrative cost of processing paper checks."

How Zipmark Works

Zipmark partners with invoicing platforms so that Zipmark is a payment option directly on invoices that a business sends to its customers.

Zipmark has created a new payment type by developing a realtime electronic check to direct deposit settlement platform. Zipmark creates an actual check image from a payer and deposits those funds directly into a biller's operating account on the morning of the next business day. Zipmark is not a stored value account, so there is no need to fund a stored value account. Zipmark is simply a payer's digital checkbook.

When a payer sees Zipmark offered as a payment option, he or she simply needs to choose to pay with Zipmark, and register for a Zipmark account. Zipmark registration is simply linking your checking account.

To download the Zipmark iPhone app, please visit the Apple app store.

About Zipmark

Zipmark's goal is to remove barriers between businesses and their money by bringing the checkbook into the 21st century: reducing the amount of time and money it takes to make a check payment, eliminating the possibility for bounced checks and taking all risk out of the equation for payer and payee alike. Zipmark was launched in 2010 by Jay Bhattacharya and Jake Howerton, and is based in New York City. To learn more about the company please visit www.zipmark.com.

Zipmark's investors are Village Ventures, Contour Venture Partners, NYC Seed, High Peaks Venture Capital and the New York City Investment Fund.

Disclaimer: Zipmark™ is a registered trademark of Zipmark, Inc. All other copyrights and trademarks within the release are property of the respective brands.

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