LoyaltyLion has announced further investment, this time from ex-ASOS director James Hart, bringing the startup’s total funding in 2014 to $500,000.
In addition, Hart, who was previously at ASOS for 14 years, joining as the online clothing retailer’s first employee before ending his career in 2013, will take up an advisor position at LoyaltyLion.
Hart is also set to become one of the largest shareholders at LoyaltyLion. Other backers include Jan Boluminski, co-founder of Europe’s largest loyalty coalition PAYBACK, QXL founder Tim Jackson and Tom Buehlmann of symphony EYC.
Engagement ‘beyond the purchase’
For his part, Hart is particularly happy about his involvement with the LoyaltyLion product and what the future holds for the company.
“Charlie and the team have built a product that allows retailers to reward their customers for all the interactions they have with them online, which goes way beyond just making a purchase,” he enthused.
“That’s great for customers and great for retailers and it improves the digital experience as a whole, so I was delighted to jump on board.”
Third round of funding
Prior to Hart’s involvement, the company had a $370,000 seed round led by Julian Carter’s EC1 Capital, which was also LoyaltyLion’s second batch of funding after the $20,000 it received from Startupbootcamp, a pan-European accelerator programme.
With that in mind it is likely that Hart’s investment falls in the region of $110,000. Unfortunately LoyaltyLion CEO Charlie Casey would not confirm the exact figure when asked by PerformanceIN.
London-based LoyaltyLion helps e-commerce retailers gain more control over their loyalty programme by providing what it calls a social loyalty framework. It can let a customer earn points for creating an account, referring a friend or leaving a review, for example.
More than 300 e-commerce stores are already using LoyaltyLion as the backbone to their loyalty programmes, with reports indicating a 9.4% increase in average basket size and a 21% increase in time spent on their sites as a result.