Mezu

Mezu, Inc. developed a mobile payment application designed to replicate the anonymity and immediacy of cash. The app generated unique, one-time encrypted codes so users could send and receive money without exchanging phone numbers, email addresses or usernames, enabling payments both to acquaintances and to strangers such as bartenders, valets or stylists. Transaction and personal information was not published in a social feed, and each user received an FDIC-insured account through banking partner MainStreet Bank. Additional features included "MezuBoxes" that accepted deposits using only a box number, geo-locked four-digit codes for in-person exchanges, a "DropCode" feature used for quick anonymous "flash donations" to charities and causes, and, announced around 2019, a digitally generated debit card that could be added to wallets such as Apple Pay and, for a period, carried cash-back rewards at selected retailers.

The free app launched in the United States on iOS and Android in 2018. Positioning arguments cited by the company included women's safety (avoiding the identity exposure that other P2P apps create), service to the roughly 23 million Americans without an account at a federally insured institution, and the continued global prevalence of cash. Management stated a longer-term goal of making digital cash broadly accessible, including eventual transfers across currency types.

In July 2020 Mezu emailed users that the service would be taken offline on 11 August 2020, after which the app could no longer be downloaded or used; remaining balances were to be returned to linked bank accounts (or mailed as paper checks if a transfer failed) and all Mezu Cards deactivated. Executive-profile records for the Mezu, Inc. entity subsequently describe Alviere, a finance platform providing embedded financial products — banking, mobile payments, card issuance, payment processing and cross-border currency exchange — to enterprise clients, headquartered in New York with 51-250 employees.

Founding story

Yuval Brisker co-founded and led TOA Technologies, a field service management SaaS company acquired by Oracle in 2014 in one of Ohio's largest venture-backed exits; after two years at Oracle on integration work he started Mezu with co-founder Pedro Silva, a former TOA solutions architect who had led TOA's Latin America expansion. TOA co-founder Irad Carmi joined Mezu's board. Brisker framed the company around two gaps: paying someone you do not know when you have no cash, and protecting financial privacy.

Business model

As a consumer app, Mezu was free to users. Management said revenue was expected to come in part from partnerships with businesses and nonprofits and from credit card fees, with early emphasis on user growth rather than revenue generation. The Alviere platform associated with the entity sells embedded financial products and technology to enterprise customers.

Anticipated revenue from partnerships with businesses and nonprofit organizations and from credit card fees; the app itself was offered free to consumers.

Traction

27 employees at the time of the 2018 Series A. The app launched in the U.S. on iOS and Android in summer 2018 and secured donation partnerships with the Cleveland Orchestra and the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland; investors described it as attracting significant attention quickly. The consumer service was discontinued in August 2020.

Latest developments

Mezu notified users in July 2020 that the app would go offline on 11 August 2020, with balances returned and Mezu Cards deactivated. Executive records for Mezu, Inc. now describe the Alviere embedded-finance platform, listing Pedro Silva as CEO and co-founder, Yuval Brisker as executive chairman, Steven Scofelia as CFO and Jorgen Norgaard as chief compliance officer, with additional leadership updates recorded in 2024 and 2025.