Loyalty firm expands to US
A multimillion-dollar funding boost for a Wellington loyalty card software firm will allow it to set its global expansion plans in motion.
Collect, which launched in New Zealand in 2014, will open an office in San Francisco early next year and employ about six staff, as well as double its staff numbers in Wellington, after securing $2.5 million from investors.
The company’s software allows retailers to collect information through loyalty schemes used in stores, so that they can target customers with offers and other marketing information.
More than 15,000 retailers around the world use the software, with more than two-thirds based in North America. There are more than 15 million consumers on Collect’s database.
Co-founder Brent Spicersaid the move to open an office in San Francisco would grow the company’s strongest customer base.
Collect’s New Zealand market share was sitting at about 5 per cent.
‘‘We’ve never been geographically focused, so as a percentage of our revenue, as we grow, New Zealand is actually contributing less and less.’’
Collect’s subscription model starts at $19 per month, and targets small businesses that could not afford to set up services including loyalty schemes, sales campaigns, customer feedback collection, and direct messaging to customers, for physical and online stores.
The $2.5m funding round was the largest amount of money the firm had raised to date, Spicer said.
The lead investor was former Westpac executive David Fite, who contributed half the money.
In addition to the funding, Collect also signed an agreement with Australia’s newest bank, Tyro, which would help fuel further growth across the ditch, Spicer said.
The software-as-a-service market was ‘‘huge’’ with US$22 trillion (NZ$32 tril- lion) spent in retail worldwide last year, Spicer said.
Of that, 91 per cent was spent at brickand-mortar stores, almost all of which were small to medium-sized businesses. ‘‘There is no incumbent in our space and our new investors believe that our approach can make us No 1, globally.’’
David Jones from the Wellington Regional Economic Development Agency said Collect ‘‘identified a hole in the market’’ and had the talent and drive to make global inroads.