I’ve been gradually impressed by the startups coming out of the growing Lisbon tech startup scene – Seedrs is developed out of there for instance – and they are now joined by Passworks, a new platform launching in beta for brands and retailers to create, manage, and distribute marketing campaigns across Apple’s Passbook, Google Wallet and Windows Phone Wallet. Passworks has now secured a $1 million seed investment from Portugal Ventures and Faber Ventures.
Brands and retailers can use Passworks to distribute coupons and offers to consumers across social channels and others. Customers see a campaign on social media, add the pass to their mobile Passbook, or other mobile wallet app, to redeem later.
This means the brands can send push notification reminders and updates directly to a consumers phone; trigger marketing notifications based on their location and track campaigns in real-time.
Mobile “wallet” marketing is quite a hot space right now.
Passworks’ competitors include Fosbury, a TechStars-backed startup in the Netherlands which creates mobile promotions to drive repeat business using mobile wallets, and Passkit, a mobile commerce Hong Kong company with $1.2 million in funding. There is also Passjoy, Passforce, Wallet Kit and Pass Bee Media.
The offers can also be triggered by in-store sensors like iBeacon, which can guide a customer around the shop.
Lisbon-based Faber Ventures has also invested $1M in Liquid, a mobile analytics and personalisation startup.