card.io

What card.io does

card.io was a San Francisco-based mobile payment technology company founded in 2010 (per firmographic data; some sources cite 2011) that developed computer-vision-based credit card scanning software development kits (SDKs) for iOS and Android applications. Its core technology used OCR to extract card numbers, expiration dates, and cardholder names from a smartphone camera image, replacing manual form entry for merchants and app developers. The company raised a $2.5M seed round in February 2011 led by Harrison Metal with participation from K9 Ventures and Uncork Capital, and was led by founders/co-founders including Rohan Suri, Patrick G. Min, and Guri Oron.

In 2012, card.io was acquired by eBay — then the parent of PayPal — and its card-scanning technology was integrated into Braintree, PayPal's developer-focused payment platform. Braintree subsequently operated as a full-service payment processing product within PayPal, with card.io's capture capability folded into its mobile SDKs alongside other payment methods (cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, Venmo, ACH, and local payment methods). Following integration, card.io ceased operating as an independent product company; the corporate entity persists in firmographic records but does not appear to actively commercialize products or services on a standalone basis, with the most recent documented capital event being a small 2024 funding raise of approximately $150,000.

It is important to note that the bulk of the input data pertains to Braintree (a PayPal service) rather than card.io itself. The Braintree platform generates revenue primarily through transaction-processing fees (percentage plus fixed per-transaction), recurring billing services, and add-on fraud management tools. It operates under both an API-first/developer self-service GTM and an enterprise field sales motion, targeting e-commerce merchants, subscription businesses, in-store retailers, and marketplaces globally. Card.io's own revenue model, current pricing, and active customer base cannot be derived from the input data.

Name

card.io

Legal name

Braintree

Website

https://card.io

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Acquired

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

card.io was a San Francisco-based mobile payment technology company that built OCR-based credit card scanning SDKs for iOS and Android apps. It was acquired by eBay/PayPal in 2012 and its technology integrated into the Braintree payments platform.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Mobile Payment Technology

NAICS

Activities Related to Credit Intermediation (5223)

akta.pro primary industry

Mobile Wallets (NFC Tap-to-Pay / HCE) (FSAMAEAB)

Keywords

• Mobile credit card scanning
• OCR payment SDK
• Mobile commerce capture
• IOS Android developer SDK
• Computer vision payments

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations

Revenue model

1. Transaction Processing Fees: Braintree charges merchants a percentage fee plus a fixed per-transaction fee for each payment processed. This is the primary revenue stream. The platform supports card transactions, wallets (Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, Venmo), and Local Payment Methods globally.
2. Premium Fraud Management Add-ons: Additional revenue from premium fraud prevention tools that provide enhanced real-time transaction evaluation beyond standard fraud protection.
3. Recurring Billing Services: Revenue from subscription management features including recurring billing for merchants running subscription-based business models.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

card.io developed and offered mobile credit card scanning SDKs for iOS and Android that used computer vision and OCR to capture card numbers, expiration dates, and other details directly from a device's camera, eliminating manual entry. Following acquisition by eBay/PayPal in 2012, the card.io technology was integrated into Braintree's mobile payment SDK, where it continues to provide in-app card scanning as part of Braintree's broader payment processing platform.

Product overview

Braintree is a global payments platform acquired by PayPal that provides a unified, modular product portfolio. The core offering is Checkout with Drop-in UI and Hosted Fields for payment acceptance, supplemented by fraud prevention tools (Premium Fraud Management Tools, 3D Secure 2), operational features (Disputes Management, Reports, Webhooks), and data sharing APIs (OAuth, Grant API, Forward API). Additional capabilities include Recurring Billing, Braintree Auth (Beta), Braintree Marketplace, and In-Store Payments. The platform supports multiple payment methods including Credit Cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, Venmo, ACH Direct Debit, and Local Payment Methods.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• card.io Credit Card Scanning SDK Mobile SDK that enables developers to embed credit card scanning functionality into iOS and Android apps using the device camera, automatically extracting card number, expiration date, and cardholder name via OCR. The SDK targets mobile app developers and merchants building checkout, payment, or expense capture flows.

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration12 records

Feature9 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• PayPalcoreOEM/ Whitelabel/ Licensing PartnerBraintree operates as a service of PayPal, fully integrated into the PayPal ecosystem. The partnership provides Braintree merchants access to PayPal's payment network, buyer base, and fraud prevention capabilities. PayPal provides the underlying infrastructure, brand, and distribution for Braintree's global payment platform.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights1 record

Direct peers

• Stripe: Stripe is a leading developer-first global payment processing platform offering card acceptance, wallets, and a broad suite of APIs/SDKs. It directly competes with the Braintree platform that absorbed card.io across e-commerce, subscription, and marketplace use cases.
• Adyen: Adyen is a global unified payments platform serving enterprise merchants with card acquiring, local payment methods, and embedded fintech capabilities. It competes head-to-head with Braintree for large, omnichannel merchants and offers similar developer-friendly APIs.
• Block (Square): Block operates Square seller processing alongside Cash App and Afterpay, offering card-present and card-not-present acceptance, developer APIs, and merchant services. It overlaps with Braintree's omnichannel (online + in-store) processing positioning.
• Checkout.com: Checkout.com is a global payment processor serving enterprise and digital-first merchants with unified APIs, local payment methods, and fraud tools. It competes directly with Braintree in card processing and fintech infrastructure.

Broad incumbents

• Worldpay: Worldpay is a large-scale established merchant acquirer and payment processor with global reach. It is comparable as a broad incumbent offering overlapping card acceptance and processing capabilities, though it serves a more traditional enterprise book.
• Authorize.Net: Authorize.Net is a long-standing payment gateway serving SMB and mid-market merchants with card acceptance APIs. It is comparable as a payment gateway incumbent, though narrower in scope than Braintree's full-stack platform.
• PayPal: PayPal is the parent platform of Braintree and the umbrella brand for the broader two-sided payments network. It is comparable as the broad incumbent orchestrating the ecosystem in which card.io's technology sits.
• 2Checkout (Verifone): 2Checkout is a digital commerce platform offering global payment processing, subscriptions, and merchant services. It overlaps with Braintree in cross-border card processing and subscription billing use cases.

Regional players

• Razorpay: Razorpay is an India-focused developer-first payment gateway and fintech platform offering card acceptance, UPI, and a full stack of merchant APIs. It is comparable in product shape and developer GTM, though it primarily serves the Indian market.

Emerging players

• Mollie: Mollie is a European payment service provider offering simple developer-friendly checkout APIs and multi-payment-method support. It is comparable as a developer-first payment processor with a similar product surface, primarily serving European SMBs.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/cardio
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/card-io

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors3 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about card.io