A payment pioneer who launched the first chain of restaurants in Europe to drop cash completely has put his money where his mouth is by backing Thyngs' crowdfunding campaign.

The Future50 member has already hit £218,000 of its £300,000 target to fund the next stage of its growth, as it moves from the charity sector into powering mainstream transactions.

It's now won support and investment from the founder of salad chain Tossed, Vincent McKevitt, and the company's financial director Neil Sebba, who became interested in the company as a possible solution to the over-supply of payment apps on offer to retailers and consumers. Mr McKevitt said: 'Tossed was the first hospitality business in Europe to go completely cashless, swapping tills for self-service kiosks to support our proposition, simplify operations and increase service.

'Thyngs' mission to make it easy for brands to offer frictionless mobile payments and promotions fits well with our philosophy, and their focus on proximity gives them a significant edge over all the app-based alternatives competing for the same consumer.'

Mr McKevitt and Mr Sebba know about crowdfunding themselves, having raised £1.3m in 2015 to launch Tossed, which now has 26 outlets across the country.

Norwich-based Thyngs' technology allows businesses to take instant payments from any smartphone using just a sticker, meaning that almost anywhere can become a point of sale.

The company's founder and chief executive, Neil Garner, said: 'Tossed has a great reputation for being ahead of the curve and this investment is a great validation of our offering.'

He added: 'The Thyngs platform works for small and large businesses alike, giving them the ability to offer cheaper and easier to implement cashless payment options, without requiring customer to download an app.'

The crowdfunding campaign has won further support in recent days, with Chris Gare, former managing director of Microsoft in Europe, coming on board. Mr Gare was hired by Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer to launch the software company in Europe in 1982. He dealt with Mr Garner on the purchase of a company in 2011 and said he admired Thyngs' 'customer-centric' approach.