Tapview receives $15k grant for content micropayment system

Sydney-based micro-payments startup, Tapview, has received a grant from Jobs for NSW for its micropayment technology, allowing a potential alternative to subscription and paywalls on news sites.

The initiative, which has received a Jobs for NSW minimum viable product grant of $14,685, is currently being trialled in two Fairfax newspapers – the Bay Post and the Moruya Examiner.

Tapview CEO, James Jansson, said the idea came from viewing his friends in media struggling to find work.

“Converting casual free readers to paying customers is the holy grail of digital content publishing.

“Instead of signing up to a full subscription you can click a button embedded on your article and pay 10c to read it,” he said.

“The ultimate goal is to create a content access system that’s available everywhere where people say ‘I’ll just Tapview it’. It’s something that’s not impossible to achieve.”

John Barilaro, deputy premier and minister for regional NSW, small business and skills, said the new technology was a means of boosting jobs growth in NSW.

“Tapview is a fantastic idea which allows people to pay for only what they want to read on whatever site or publication they want to read it on with a tap of a button.

The NSW government’s funding for Tapview has also led to a further $100,000 in seed funding from fintech accelerator H2 Ventures, as well as an additional $60,000 from private investors.

Jansson added: “We have significant development and sales requirements over the next six months. If we can implement Tapview on a paper that satisfies a particular region then other papers in that region will jump on.

“It’s not easy to say no to thousands of registered credit card users who are ready to pay.

“Users have seen the model and like it. Having a model where people can register for free and make micro payments works for the audience. We also definitely want to look overseas for customers and we are eyeing the UK as a good first step.”