GoDaddy, continuing to rev up its expanding SMB platform as its IPO nears, has launched “Get Paid”, an online and mobile payments service.

Get Paid lets Go Daddy’s base of 12 million customers – many of them SMBs – accept credit cards, debit cards, eChecks and PayPal transfers. The service has been developed in partnerships with PayPal, Dwolla and Stripe.

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GoDaddy will offer Get Paid service in three service tiers starting at $4/month and going up to $15/month depending on the configuration of features like expense tracking; connecting bank accounts; and other accounting integrations.

GoDaddy’s decision to integrate payments in their service offerings is because they did not have an existing product that allowed their customers to get paid for their products and services. In the press release, SVP of Applications Steven Aldrich said,”when we heard from customers that they want to offer their clients more ways to pay, we set out to create a best-in-class solution to ensure easy access to all the tools they need to collect payments quickly and efficiently.”

GoDaddy already offered other financial services for small businesses in the form?of accounting and billing, so the addition of payments should tie in well to the existing services. The combination of a payment tool and existing financial and business management systems can be very powerful when it comes to tracking and measuring sales for ROI purposes.

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In a deal designed to fuel innovation at First Data, the payments powerhouse has acquired mobile marketing and loyalty start-up Perka for an undisclosed amount. First Data plans to let Perka continue to operate autonomously and service as an “agile product development company led by original management.” This year, Fast Company magazine anointed Perka as one of the “Most Innovative Companies” in local.

Founded with angel money in 2011, Perka is led by CEO Alan Chung and founding partners Robert Bethge, Rob Coury, Jay Harlow and Joe Stelmach. The company offers loyalty programs for local businesses in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Africa and Latin American. Perka has 28 employees.

Perka made a name for itself for innovative thinking around the burgeoning loyalty space. For example, last December we wrote about how Perka was tacking the issue of adapting the buy 10, get one punchcard model to highly variable purchases.

The convergence of payments, loyalty and mobility is clearly on the minds of First Data’s leadership. The company is a world leader in payment processing, handling payments daily for more than 6 million merchant locations. First Data hopes to remain a key player in payments as the space expands further into mobile and tablet based payment processing. First Data made progress in this direction with its recent launch of Clover, a cloud-based point of sale (POS) solution.

In September, First Data SVP Dom Morea spoke at length about how First Data sees the evolution of loyalty at BIA/Kelsey’s SMB Digital Marketing event in Austin. The Perka acquisition, and perhaps more critically the team that comes with it, should help First Data remain at the forefront of the rapidly changing payments space.

First Data Senior VP Dom Morea talked about the future of transaction marketing at BIA/Kelsey’s Leading in Local: SMB Digital Marketing event in Austin, TX.

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