The funding from m8, which invests exclusively in mobile technology ventures, will help London-based Masabi deploy its ticketing systems with UK rail companies. It also has plans to expand overseas.

The company is already working with IT services provider Atos Origin and online booking engine thetrainline.com. Its CEO Ben Whitaker reports that the first consumer launches of its technology are due ‘later this year’.

Joseph Kim, a partner at m8 Capital, says Masabi has been successful in ‘aligning [itself] with the various stakeholders in the UK rail industry’.

Masabi’s design for a secure barcode ticket was adopted as a national standard by the UK Association of Train Operating Companies in 2008.

Adds Kim, ‘As a fund investing exclusively in mobile technology, we love innovations that have mass market appeal and can improve the way we do everyday things.’