Poynt gets $100 million to expand to Europe, Asia

Poynt devices through banks, which also handle the card transactions, and then set up an account with the company to give them access to data and software, said CEO Osama Bedier, who worked on payments at PayPal and Google before starting Poynt in 2013. The company partners with Chase and a U.S. Bank subsidiary, among others.

Poynt, which has about 120 employees, offers two devices, the Poynt Smart Terminal and the Poynt 5, along with software that can run on any smart payment terminal. The hardware is wireless and portable, which means that at a restaurant, waiters can present a bill to diners on the device and leave it with them to swipe or dip their card, rather than have to take the card to the back to ring them up.

While there are lots of options for ringing up purchases on credit and debit cards, they are fragmented, Bedier said. Poynt wants retailers to choose their own banks, software and hardware.

“Even though Google has its own phones and tablets, their apps still work on the iPhone,” Bedier said. “In the merchant world, you’re locked in.

“Square only makes a few things available to you and if you want something else, tough luck. We want to change that.”

Bedier contrasts Square’s success with smaller merchants with Poynt’s customers, who are typically larger. The typical Poynt retailer does more than $50,000 a year in sales. The company has about 100,000 customers for its hardware and software.

New money: Simple Habit

What it does: Simple Habit offers meditation and audio therapy sessions. What happened: It received $10 million in a funding round led by Foundation Capital. Why it matters: Simple Habit joins the field of meditation apps, which are becoming increasingly popular. As CEO Yunha Kim put it, there are plenty of apps for the high points of life, but people also need apps for the low points. Headquarters: San Francisco Funding: $12.8 million Employees: 12

Deal of the week: Sapho

What it does: Sapho pulls work-related tasks from different systems, like filing for paid time off and expense reports, into one online feed. What happened: It was bought by Citrix for about $200 million. Why it matters: Citrix is popular and used by major companies, which gives Sapho access to a large customer base, according to Sapho cofounder Fouad ElNaggar. Headquarters: Formerly San Bruno; Sapho employees have moved to Citrix’s Santa Clara office Funding: $27.9 million Employees: About 90

Sophia Kunthara is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sophia. kunthara@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SophiaKunthara