Funding For Payments Startups Hit A Peak In The First Quarter

Funding for payments companies hit a peak of $492 million in the first quarter of 2014, according to data from TechCrunch.

That's up 109% from the previous quarter and 347% from the same quarter in the prior year, BI Intelligence finds.

There were 59 funding deals, which means that it was the fourth highest-number of deals since the beginning of 2009, when the data set begins.

While a good deal of the payment funding went to Stripe and mPowa - 32% - BI Intelligence believes the number of deals shows just how excited investors are about the payments space right now.

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