Swipii

Swipii operates as a cashback and customer loyalty platform, primarily targeting small, local brick-and-mortar businesses in the United Kingdom. Founded in Glasgow in 2014 by Louis Schena and Chitresh Sharma, the company emerged from their experience as international students at the University of Strathclyde. They identified that local retailers often lacked the resources for sophisticated loyalty programs, inspiring them to create an accessible marketing tool to help these businesses compete with larger chains.

The company's product has evolved significantly since its inception. Initially, Swipii provided merchants with a tablet-based CRM platform and customers with a physical card or key fob to collect points. In 2018, the business pivoted to a mobile app that utilizes card-linking technology. This allows consumers to securely link their existing Visa or Mastercard debit or credit cards to the app. Once linked, users automatically earn rewards, in the form of a voucher currency called v£, every time they shop at a participating retailer, eliminating the need for separate loyalty cards or scanning QR codes. The earned v£ can then be redeemed for vouchers at a wide range of UK brands.

For its business clients—which include cafes, restaurants, and retail shops—Swipii functions as an automated marketing suite. The platform provides businesses with data on customer spending habits, visit frequency, and feedback, enabling them to run tailored marketing campaigns. A feature called the "Win-Back Offer" specifically allows merchants to retarget customers who have not visited in a while. The business model appears to be commission-based, taking a percentage of the transactions driven through the platform, while offering a free-to-use basic service for businesses to sign up. The company has received significant financial backing, raising a total of $7.43M over several funding rounds from investors including Par Equity, LocalGlobe, and Rocket Internet.