In a press release brimming with cheek, LevelUp, a start-up from Cambridge, Mass.-based SCVNGR, announced that it's doubling the number of cities where the tool can be used and releasing a new app for iPhone and Android.

Launched back in March as a rewards program, LevelUp said it is also adding a mobile payment feature that will allow the tool to be used to pay at participating merchants.

The company said in its announcement the new mobile payment direction is in reaction to its pilot program not meeting expectataions.

"The pilot program in the Boston and Philadelphia markets went great, but not quite great enough," the company said in its press release.

According to the release, the new application can now be used at merchants in Boston, New York City, Philadelphia and San Francisco.

The payment feature uses QR codes read at the point of sale to pay. Customers link their LevelUp accounts to credit and debit cards through the LevelUp site. Once scanned, customers receive a notification of their payment and an email receipt.

Participating merchants will also offer customers coupons and offers for using LevelUp as a payment method. The discounts are automatically deducted from the purchase total at the point of sale.

To encourage merchants to adopt the new payment feature, LevelUp released some statistics on consumers already using the service. According to LevelUp, 45 percent of all customers return to LevelUp merchants to pay full price (i.e. non-discounted) within 30 days and 65 percent of customers at LevelUp's quick-service restaurant merchants return and pay full price within 30 days. Additionally, LevelUp users tip 21 percent at sit-down restaurants, LevelUp said.

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