LevelUp, the world’s first "interchange zero" payment network, announced today that it has raised an additional $9 million in venture capital from Deutsche Telekom venture capital arm T-Venture and other individual investors.

This investment is the second part of a recent larger fundraising round, bringing the total raised to just more than $21 million.

LevelUp will use this funding to fuel both product development and the rapid expansion of its Interchange Zero mobile payment network. Senior Investment Manager at T-Venture, Randeep Wilkhu, will join the LevelUp board as an observer.

LevelUp, the second largest mobile payment network behind Starbucks, recently announced that it has achieved its ambitious goal of lowering its merchant interchange rate to zero.

Available at more than 3,000 businesses nationwide, LevelUp provides value to merchants beyond interchange fees in the form of business-boosting customer acquisition and loyalty campaigns and makes money off of providing that additional value.

“Having T-Venture on our side is tremendous affirmation of our Interchange Zero strategy,” says LevelUp’s Chief “Ninja,” Seth Priebatsch.

“We’re incredibly excited to have such well-known industry leaders back us as we push toward becoming a truly meaningful company,” he says. “We’re in the middle of a seismic shift in the economy, where paying for transactions is no longer the status quo, and merchants come to expect so much more value from their payment provider than just the basic movement of money.”

Consumers also save big by paying with their phones on LevelUp, with average users saving between $30-40 per month. LevelUp’s base of 200,000 active users is growing quickly, doubling in the last three months.

“LevelUp is anticipating the next big industry disruption,” Wilkhu says. “T-Venture is confident that LevelUp’s Interchange Zero ecosystem will drive consumer adoption of mobile payments, as well as support the economic growth of the merchants by providing value beyond the transaction.”