American Express Co. today announced a partnership with mobile payment start-up Payfone Inc. Payfone offers consumers the ability to pay for purchases using their mobile phone numbers like a credit card account.

As a part of the agreement, Payfone will use Amex's recently announced Serve network to link payment accounts to a customer's mobile phone numbers. Serve is a digital wallet service similar to PayPal that gives consumers an account that can be pre-funded or connected through a bank account or credit card and can be used on any computer or mobile device.

"This alliance brings together Serve's unified online, mobile and real-world functionality with Payfone's advanced mobile authorization and payment services to deliver a seamless payment solution," said Dan Schulman, group president, Enterprise Growth, American Express. "The alliance is an important next step for the international rollout of Serve."

According to a Payfone announcement, the partnership is part of a round of $19 million in strategic funding that also includes Verizon Investments Inc. (assisted by Verizon Ventures), Rogers Ventures and BlackBerry Partners Fund. The announcement said the funding will be used by Payfone to continue innovations in its market approach and to support its global expansion across North America, EMEA, Latin America and Asia.