Fanmiles

Fanmiles GmbH operates as a developer of loyalty programs, primarily targeting the sports and entertainment sectors. The Berlin-based company was founded in 2013 by Fabian Schmidt and Alan Sternberg. Schmidt, who served as CEO, studied Corporate Finance at Columbia University and Marketing at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. Sternberg, the former Chief Marketing Officer, has a background in production and digital strategy.

The company's core business involves providing technology and a universal loyalty currency, branded as "#fanmiles," to enable businesses to create and manage their own data-driven, white-label loyalty programs. This platform is designed to help businesses increase customer retention. The business model is centered on transaction fees; Fanmiles earns revenue for each #fanmile collected by users. Initially, Fanmiles began as a network where fans could earn points for engaging with content from sports stars, like watching a video. It later evolved its business model to focus on offering the technical platform for loyalty programs to a broader range of partners. Clients have included notable names such as Sport1, Intersport, Adidas, EA Games, and several German football league teams including FC Schalke 04 and Hertha BSC.

Throughout its history, Fanmiles secured significant funding, including a Pre-Series A round of €2.7 million in 2017, which included investment from German soccer star Philipp Lahm. A major milestone was the 2018 acquisition of a majority stake in the company by investor ND Business, a subsidiary of the ND Group that focuses on payment solutions. In the same year, Fanmiles announced a partnership with Miles & More, a major German loyalty program, and launched a new platform called Uplyft to allow small and medium-sized enterprises to offer loyalty programs. Despite these developments and raising a total of $3.05 million, the founders reportedly did not receive any proceeds from the eventual sale of the company. The fanmiles.com domain is currently listed for sale.

Keywords: loyalty program technology, customer retention platform, fan engagement, sports marketing, entertainment loyalty, white-label loyalty solutions, customer loyalty management, B2B loyalty programs, #fanmiles currency, Fabian Schmidt, Alan Sternberg, Miles & More partnership, Uplyft platform, Philipp Lahm investment, ND Business acquisition, sports loyalty, digital rewards, loyalty campaign management, data-driven marketing, customer rewards program