Image credits: Bits of Stock
Bits of Stock, an Amsterdam-based fintech platform, announced that it has secured $4.4M (approximately €4.2M) in a Seed round of funding from Keen Venture Partners and Yellow Accelerator by Snap Inc.
The Dutch company plans to use the funds to double its size and onboard around 200 brands in the next 12 months. The company’s strategy is to expand its marketing and sales teams in the US, while maintaining a global development team in Amsterdam.
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With this funding, Bits of Stock aims to capitalise on the embedded finance industry, which is projected to grow to $7.2T by 2030.
“We are very proud to be backed by Keen Venture Partners and Yellow Accelerator by Snap,” says Arash Asady, CEO and co-founder of Bits of Stock.
“The funding will help us to scale up our mission of building the “Ownership Economy” for the thousands of brands and their tens of millions of end consumers. Our ultimate purpose is to address wealth inequality and help young people learn about finance and investing,” he adds.
Bits of Stock aims to make financial products like fractional shares easily accessible, particularly for younger generations who have difficulties building long-term wealth.
The company says the majority of Millennials and Gen Z don’t invest and have fewer savings than older generations.
Bits of Stock: What you need to know
Founded by Arash Asady, Colin Kuntz, and Ryan Gary, Bits of Stock is a consumer reward platform driving loyalty through stock rewards – fractional shares of private and publicly listed companies.
With this move, the company aims to replace the traditional methods, including points, loyalty cards, and cashback programmes with assets that grow over time.
To start off, shoppers need to enrol a credit card in the Bits of Stock app to start earning rewards.
Additionally, the company is also launching a Growth Rewards API, enabling clients such as brands, retailers, neobanks, and BNPL providers, to embed rewards experience into their own applications and choose from thousands of fractional shares and crypto rewards.
Asady adds, “The Bits of Stock Growth Rewards API will support a range of embedded finance and rewards-as-a-service use cases. It is the most significant innovation in customer loyalty programmes since they began, more than two centuries ago.”
Currently, Bits of Stock is working with 60 brands, including Adidas, KFC, Nike, Zara, and many more. Subscription brands such as Uber, Spotify, and Netflix are also active on the platform, says the company.
The fintech has offices in Amsterdam and New York.
Investors
Keen Venture Partners is a venture capital firm based in Amsterdam and London. It backs exceptional teams and fast-growing scale-ups across Europe at the Series A and Series B stages.
“We are thrilled to be working with co-founders Arash and Ryan, who are doing their bit for the ownership economy,” says Abdul Afridi, an investor at Keen who led the funding round with $2.5m.
“Brand loyalty is one great consequence, but at Keen, we think that building wealth for younger generations is an equally, if not more important consequence.”
The Yellow Accelerator is a launchpad by Snap for entrepreneurs, who are looking to build the next generation of great media companies.
The launchpad invests in companies that can contribute to human progress, by empowering people to express themselves, live in the moment, learn about the world and have fun together.
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