LevelUp raised a $9 million funding round a few months ago, and the Boston-based start-up has continued to pick up steam.

The company, for example, recently helped unwire all 200 concession stands at the University of Louisville’s basketball arena.

But will LevelUp have enough to offer to survive in the long run? Users are still paying away with the app now — Seth Priebatsch, the company’s “chief ninja,” tweeted that the company took 424 days to do its first million transactions, and it is estimated to take about a hundred to hit its next million. But the Globe’s Hiawatha Bray, who is a fan of LevelUp, just doesn’t see a good much demand for fancy mobile payment apps in general, despite the sudden interest of entrepreneurs.

“There’s one problem with all of these services: Nobody needs them,” he wrote in a review of mobile payment apps. “Traditional credit cards work fine. And the new apps are another way for businesses to collect more personal data about us, in an effort to sell more stuff. The bank already knows everything I buy; should Google know, too?”

In the meantime, Priebatsch was gamely on the defensive about the choice of a Surface for the giveaway after snarky Tweeters took potshots at the prize (including your humble correspondent).