Amazon.com announced today that they are investing in Bill Me Later, Inc. Not only that, but Amazon is also signing a agreement with the online billing company as well. eBay and PayPal has thus far proved the synergy of combining an online retailer with an online billing payment company. Over 90% of all eBay auctions are paid via PayPal so it made sense for eBay to buy them for $1.5 billion.

“Bill Me Later has developed a very customer-centric method to make online shopping even easier,” stated Matt Swann, VP of payments at Amazon.com. “We are pleased to make the convenience of Bill Me Later available to our tens of millions of Amazon customers [source: Amazon.com press release].”

The investment terms were not disclosed, but the company has $200 million in funding capital according to TechCrunch. Bill Me Later investors include Chase Paymentech, Azure Capital Partners, First Data Corp, Crosspoint Venture Partners, GRP Partners, CIT Group Inc., Citigroup Corporate and Investment Banking, Citigroup, Equifax, T. Rowe Price, and Legg Mason Inc.

“Amazon.com and Bill Me Later share the same commitment to making shopping easy for consumers,” stated Gary Marino, the CEO of Bill Me Later. “Just as Amazon invented a new and better way for people to shop online, Bill Me Later has created a new and better way for people to pay for purchases online.”

Before joining Bill Me Later, Marino was an EVP, Chief Credit Officer, and Chief Marketing Officer of consumer lending at First USA/Bank One.

Metuchen, New Jersey based photo-sharing company, Phanfare recently raised $2.5 million. This is Phanfare’s third round of funding and the investment was lead by Azure Capital Partners. Phanfare als received funding from Acadia Woods Partners. Other investors include Dwight Merriman, DoubleClick’s (co-founder), Kevin Ryan (former CEO of DoubleClick), and Fabrice Grinda (founder of Zingy).

Phanfare makes money by selling subscriptions and competes directly with Photobucket and Flickr. The disadvantage that Phanfare has is that it is already competing against major photo-sharing players that are backed by major corporations. Flickr is owned by Yahoo! and Photobucket is owned by News Corp. However this could also work out in Phanfare’s favor because adding features around the website won’t require as much bureaucratic approval.

Phanfare has roughly 10,000 customers.

Information Source:
[1] paidContent: Phanfare Raises $2.5 Million Third Round For Photo Storing by Joseph Weisenthal