Barclays has led an investment of £10 million into UK loyalty scheme tech start-up Bink.
Founded in 2015, the company uses tech to allow customers to link payment cards to loyalty programmes, and automatically collect points when they make a purchase.
Already having partnered major with retail brands including Morrisons, River Island, the new partnership will enable Barclays customers to check their loyalty points through the bank’s app.
Bink chief executive Mike Jordan said that the bank had taken a minority equity stake in Bink as part of the investment.
“Fundamentally, we can apply the technology across markets all around the world,” he said.
“The premise is still the same: We want to ensure that people never miss out on points, rewards and benefits.”
Board member Lee Clarke explained to BusinessCloud how he founded the company after becoming frustrated at missing out on offers because he did not carry a wallet-load of cards around with him.
“I obviously carried plastic payment cards around with me though, and the idea came from there,” he said. “I realised there was a real business model around it.”
He also explained how the tech works. “We’ve all been at the till when someone in front of use pulls out a bunch of coupons to be scanned and you hear the groan of people waiting.
“You avoid all of that. The person behind the till knows exactly who you are, recognises that you are entitled to money off various goods in your shopping basket, you see your price roll back and you get a push notification on your phone thanking you for shopping there and saying ‘you’ve just saved X per cent on your shopping’.
“What a brilliant experience.”
In 2017 the platform partnered with Harvey Nichols’ to embed its existing reward scheme into the app, and Individual Restaurants Group to offer its services across Piccolino, The Restaurant Bar & Grill, Bank Restaurant & Bar and Gino D’Acampo My Restaurants.