One of Northern Ireland’s most promising fintech start-ups, loyalBe, has secured a six figure investment which it plans to use to develop its innovative rewards app.
loyalBe, which aims to replace paper loyalty cards with one single mobile app, has received the funding from seed capital investment fund techStart NI and a number of private investors.
Founded by Cormac Quinn, loyalBe is a powerful data-driven platform that aims to increase customer retention and drive repeat sales for retailers.
Cormac said: “We intend to use the funds to build a team to help us execute our plans faster, secure our Financial Conduct Authority licence and to fuel growth.
“Our product is currently being tested with a handful of local retailers and we are currently looking to expand this trial, with a full public launch to follow later in the year.”
Ryan McAnlis from techstartNI added: “We are delighted to join with Cormac at this early stage of his business’ journey. We have been impressed by his technical and commercial acumen and believe that the timing for a game changing approach to loyalty and customer retention is upon us with the introduction of Open Banking.”
Last year, loyalBe won the inaugural £60,000 Open Banking Challenge, a competition run by techstart NI and Danske Bank and for the past year the company has been working to refine its product with Danske Bank as a resident of the Catalyst Belfast Fintech Hub.
David Thompson, Senior Manager, Open Banking at Danske Bank, said loyalBe is a great example of the way the bank is working alongside innovative new companies at the Catalyst Belfast Fintech Hub to help them speed the delivery of their products.
He said: “Danske Bank is delighted to see loyalBe securing the funding needed to take the business to the next stage. We have worked closely with Cormac to help him to bring the concept to life, allowing him to test the app with Danske Bank staff.
“Since pitching his initial concept to us in early 2018, we have seen loyalBe develop into an app that now makes use of open banking, linking to bank account information to make sure users get rewards from the outlets they shop at most often, without having to claim points.”
In addition to the mentoring he has received from Danske Bank, Cormac has also recently completed the intensive 12-week Ignite NI Accelerator programme, where he got the opportunity to pitch loyalBe to investors in London, Dublin and San Francisco.