UK-based payments firm Yoyo raised £12 million in funding, as it looks to expand across Europe.

In a statement, Yoyo said the bulk of the Series B funding came from Horeca, the venture arm of German retailer Metro Group, with additional funding from Woodford Investment Management and Touchstone Innovations.

Yoyo launched its wallet app in 2013, and said it helps “retailers drive business growth via mobile first customer engagement”.

It has 400,000 registered users, with an acceptance network of more than 1,700 outlets, with its reach significantly boosted following the launch of a Yoyo powered mobile app from coffee chain Cafe Nero across 640 stores in the UK and Ireland.

The latest funding follows a Series A round totalling £8.7 million in April 2015, that aided the company’s expansion across the UK.

Alain Falys, co-founder and CEO said the company is now delivering “proven benefits” to a rapidly number of growing merchants and their customers.

“This new funding will allow us to provide the benefits of customer identification and mobile engagement to a wider array of retailers, large and small, in the UK and across Europe,” he said.

Yoyo’s app allows retailers to provide customers with a different range of services, and customise their offerings.

For a restaurant chain, it could include capabilities to place an order directly from the table, pay from the table, pre order, as well as offer reward schemes.

Falys observed that consumers are now spending more than three hours a day on their smartphones and “40 per cent buy more when subject to a personalised shopping experience”.

“Yoyo simply provides all retailers with an accessible way of tapping into these behaviours,” he added.