With over 17 million active users and valued at $3 billion, Fetch Rewards is looking to expand from grocery chains into other retail stores and restaurants.
That’s according to company co-founder Tyler Kennedy, who discussed the company’s path forward yesterday during the Badger Startup Summit, held in Madison as part of this year’s Forward Festival.
Since launching in Madison in 2013, Fetch Rewards has formed partnerships with major brands such as MillerCoors, Unilever, Generals Mills and others for its mobile app loyalty program. The company has raised $500 million in venture capital.
“Consumers scan any receipt from any store they go to, we digitize it, process it, and offer loyalty points based on the brands and products they purchase,” Kennedy said. “We’re ultimately a data and loyalty company, and so we’re working hard to try and understand consumer purchasing behaviors, purchasing trends. But retail is kind of just the beginning.”
The app’s millions of users are each scanning about 20 receipts a month, providing the company with data on hundreds of millions of receipts each month. Kennedy contrasted Fetch with other big data businesses such as Apple and Meta, the company that operates Facebook.
“Those companies are operating in the background, tracking what you’re looking at, tracking what websites you’re looking at,” he said. “Within Fetch, consumers are actively providing us and giving us their data, and they’re getting rewards for it. So there’s this exchange happening that doesn’t happen with many of the others currently in the spotlight.”
As the business looks to expand outside of the United States, it recently launched a Spanish version of the app. It has begun launching in restaurants, Kennedy said, highlighting initial partnerships with companies like Papa John’s, Panera Bread and Wendy’s.
He also discussed expanding into “more experiential rewards” rather than redeemable gift cards, such as tickets to sporting events.
“Our goal is to become the world’s rewards program, and to do that we’re expanding across more verticals and we’re looking to expand internationally in the next couple of years,” he said.
Listen to an earlier WisBusiness.com podcast with Fetch Rewards CEO Wes Schroll: https://www.wisbusiness.com/2021/wisbusiness-the-podcast-features-fetch-rewards-ceo/
–By Alex Moe
