LoyaltyLion Raises $370K Led By EC1 Capital To Let Smaller E-Commerce Sites Run Loyalty Programs

LoyaltyLion, a graduate of accelerator Startupbootcamp, is another startup attempting to level the playing field for smaller e-retailers. Whereas the likes of Ometria and GoSquared are tackling data and analytics head-on, helping e-commerce sites up their game against the Amazons of the world, LoyaltyLion’s data-driven platform enables online stores to offer a loyalty scheme for customers and reward them for various activities. This could include creating an account or social activities such as watching and sharing a video, not just making actual purchases.

Today the 2012-founded company, which has since relocated from Berlin to London, is announcing it’s closed a $370,000 seed round led by Julian Carter’s EC1 Capital. Others participating in the round include Jan Boluminski (co-ounder of PAYBACK), Tim Jackson (QXL founder), and Paul Burmester — the latter two were mentors for Startupbootcamp. Aside from the approximately $20,000 in funding it received as part going through the pan-European accelerator, this is the first fundraise for the startup.

Dubbed a “social loyalty” platform, LoyaltyLion’s white-label solution is compatible with commonly-used e-commere software such as Shopify, Magento and SEOshop and, claims the company, can be installed in “under 10 minutes” and with minimal technical know-how. From there on in they can track customer activity and begin offering loyalty points, which can be redeemed for vouchers, for social activities such as ‘Tweeting’, ‘Liking’ and other sharing.

It’s this emphasis of rewarding non-purchase activities that LoyaltyLion says differentiates it from tired loyalty programs that aren’t specifically tailored to online and/or social commerce. That and the fact that its gunning for the Long Tail of e-commerce, unlike competitors such as 500friends and PunchTab, which both target larger businesses.

To that end, the startup claims around 57,000 consumers signed up to LoyaltyLion-powered loyalty schemes, and that LoyaltyLion customers have reported a 21% increase in time spent on their sites and a 49% increase in customer engagement since implementing the platform.