Consumer m-commerce start-up Zooz has closed a Series A funding round, raising $2 million. The funding was led by venture capitalist firm XSeed Capital, backed up with participation from existing investors Lool Ventures and Rhodium.

The Israel-based company has now raised $3.5 million in total.

Zooz says it will use the latest round of funding to add new product functionality, increase traction with retailers, solidify new partnerships, and build its presence in the rapidly expanding global payments market.

“Our ability to close a robust Series A round in an increasingly crowded payments market underscores the strength and market potential of our approach,” said Oren Levy, co-founder and CEO of Zooz. “By focusing on creating a superior consumer checkout experience that ultimately leads to better conversion for retailers and developers, we’ve been able to clearly differentiate ourselves from the competition while attracting investors, partners and customers alike.”

Zooz cites a recent report from Forrester Research that predicts spending that the US mobile payments market will reach approximately $90 billion in 2017, a 48 per cent CAGR since 2012.

As Levy points out, it’s an increasingly crowded market with other retail online payment providers – such as Braintree and Stripe – each trying to make inroads.

Zooz claims, however, that while many existing, in-app mobile payment providers have focused heavily on developer needs and backend transactions, it aims to capitalise on the market opportunity by offering a “consumer-driven checkout platform that puts users’ needs front and center throughout the entire checkout experience”.

The start-up claims it has a unique checkout platform that helps retailers reduce shopping cart abandonment and grow their business based on smart consumer insights, leading to better conversion rates for both retailers and developers.