Belfast-based fintech company loyalBe has secured $1m investment in an oversubscribed funding round led by Techstart Ventures with support from Co-Fund NI and angels.
The loyalBe app uses Open Banking technology, allowing customers to automatically earn rewards simply by paying with their bank card. Transactional data can be used to accurately attribute customer spend which removes the need for any Point of Sale integrations or equipment in-store.
The firm, which plans to use the funds to expand into the Irish market, targets independent small merchants, leaning on the lockdown trend to shop locally.
Founder and CEO, Cormac Quinn, says: “We intend to use the funds to build partnerships and upscale our marketing efforts within Ireland. We have recently partnered with Visa to expand into the Irish market and this investment will allow us to accelerate our rollout of the app to local businesses.”
In 2018 loyalBe won the Danske Bank Open Banking competition, which came with a £60k grant prize along with office space and support.