PointsKash

PointsKash, established in 2020 by co-founder and CEO Steve Janjic, operates as a financial technology company with a primary focus on the loyalty rewards market. Janjic, a veteran of Wall Street with a background in finance and technology, previously founded Amercanex, an electronic exchange, and held leadership roles at firms including Morgan Stanley and GFI Group. The company was founded to address consumer dissatisfaction with the limited options for redeeming loyalty points.

The firm has developed a platform that allows consumers to aggregate, convert, track, and spend loyalty points from various programs as if they were cash. This is facilitated through a mobile application that leverages the Algorand blockchain to provide a secure and decentralized 'Rewards Cash Wallet'. By consolidating points into a single interface, users can view the total monetary value of their rewards and apply them to purchases. The use of blockchain technology enhances security for users' stored points. In October 2021, PointsKash secured an undisclosed amount in a seed funding round led by Seabury Capital to support its product launch and marketing initiatives.

PointsKash targets two main client groups: consumers who earn loyalty points and the merchants or issuers of these points programs. For consumers, the platform offers the flexibility to use their accumulated points at a wider range of retailers. For businesses, partnering with PointsKash allows them to offload the liability of unredeemed points from their balance sheets and provides an additional revenue stream through a share of transaction fees. The business generates revenue by charging a 3% fee to consumers when they redeem their rewards points. Recently, the company has expanded its services to include a comprehensive payments platform that integrates loyalty rewards with traditional card-based transactions for merchant partners. This solution offers merchant partners payment processing with a built-in universal loyalty cash-back program. The company has also introduced physical kiosks in retail locations, enabling users to perform various financial transactions, including accessing an ATM, buying cryptocurrency, cashing checks, and paying bills, further integrating their digital app with a physical presence.

Keywords: loyalty rewards, fintech, blockchain, rewards conversion, mobile payments, Algorand, point of sale, customer loyalty, rewards platform, cash back, digital wallet, merchant services, payment processing, stablecoin, consumer finance, financial technology, rewards aggregation, loyalty points redemption, crypto payments, retail technology