Emerging, innovative fintech player draws $5.5 mil. from leading venture capital funds,
including Play Ventures & F4 Fund, to fuel the next stage of
growth in its mission to disrupt the fast-growing consumer cash
rewards arena.
NEW
YORK and OULU, Finland, March 28,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Benjamin Capital Partners
announced today the closing of a seed round, raising a total of
$5.5 mil. from Play Ventures & F4
Fund. Other prominent investors in the round include inventor,
investor, and serial entrepreneur Anton
Gauffin; tech CEO and 20-year payment veteran Shane Happach; and Ilkka
Teppo, founder of Reworks. The raise will serve to
aggressively fuel growth for the Benjamin cash rewards app, which
has generated robust consumer demand and revenue growth since its
launch in October 2023. Since coming
out of beta in October, the Benjamin app already has over 300,000
installs and 195,000 monthly active users (MAUs). Many users are
already earning over $100 per month;
some are over $1,000 per month in
earnings. Moreover, more than 50% of installs are staying as MAUs.
Revenue growth has also been very strong, growing north of 40%
month over month since October.
The injection of funds will go towards aggressive user
acquisition and funding product development.
The raise coincides with the imminent release of an enhanced
version of the app as well as the hiring of Benjamin's first CEO.
Lon Otremba, a media, marketing, and
technology veteran, has joined the company. Most recently, Otremba
was the CEO of pioneering native advertising tech platform,
Bidtellect, whose growth he spearheaded through to acquisition last
year by Simpli.fi. Otremba is a seasoned and versatile industry
leader whose career hallmarks include successfully running AOL's
Interactive Marketing Group; being the founding President of
Mail.com (exit via IPO and eventual sale to AT&T); and being a
founding executive at CNET Networks (exit via IPO).
"We have a simple goal", said Otremba. "To allow consumers to
generate at least a Benjamin a month - $100 – using the Benjamin app."
The Benjamin app allows consumers to generate cash rewards -
called Benjamin Money Moments - on a broad range of everyday
activities including purchases, mobile gaming, and viewing
ads.
This versatility allows Benjamin to up the ante to compete
against other established players in the cashback arena. Bilt
Rewards, which recently raised $200
million with a multi-billion dollar valuation, is focused on
cash rewards for paying rent or one's mortgage. Another player,
Upside, which previously generated a $165
mil. Series D round, is focused in generating cash back on
consumer gas purchases for their cars.
"Our vision is for Benjamin to be the facilitator of a
comprehensive cash rewards lifestyle across the full range of
commercial brands and entities with which consumers interact on a
daily basis," said Erno Tauriainen,
Founder of Benjamin Capital Partners, who is a 15-year veteran of
the cash rewards space, with two previous exits. "The Benjamin
wallet will be the initial catalyst for an entire ecosystem
centered on 'Benjamin Money Moments', or 'MoMo's' for short, for
consumers as they go throughout the course of their days. They can
use the app in the morning at their local Starbucks and get 2% cash
back. And then when they are commuting on the train to their jobs,
playing their favorite mobile games, they can earn money there too.
This MoMo-based ecosystem represents a whole new paradigm."
Gaming has emerged as Benjamin's most robust area of growth
since launch. Play and F4 are both leaders in gaming investment.
Along with gaming, Tauriainen and Otremba, are focused on two other
key pillars of opportunity for the newly enhanced Benjamin product.
The first one is daily cashback earnings, which again generates
rewards for consumers on all of their daily purchases from
groceries to Netflix. In this age dominated by social media, the
Benjamin team is also prioritizing the "Social Money" features on
the app. This would include the ability to earn money for creating
social posts.
As the ad industry struggles with how to maintain scale of
accurate digital ad targeting and measurement in the face of signal
loss precipitated by Google's deprecation of third-party tracking
cookies, brand marketers are focusing increasingly on harnessing
and applying first-party, consented data. With Benjamin's
comprehensive, cross-vertical coverage, the company is poised to
become a major partner with leading brands across the spectrum.
"Play Ventures is very excited to lead the seed round of
Benjamin as they continue to build category-defining consumer
reward products. With nearly half of the US population playing
mobile games, and consumer credit card rewards reaching new heights
every year, we believe that the intersection of consumer rewards
and mobile games is a major emerging opportunity. We are excited to
put our expertise in scaling gaming companies to work with the
Benjamin team to help them seize the opportunity to redefine
lifestyle products in the category", said Harri Manninen, Founding Partner at Play
Ventures.
"We at F4 Fund are thrilled to be investors and backers of
Benjamin. The brilliance of their cashback app lies in its
simplicity, effectiveness, and unique reach into gaming, which
opens up new avenues for monetization and distribution of games,"
said Joakim Achren, General Partner, F4 Fund. "The team at Benjamin
has impressed us with their knowledge in this space and their
skills in delivering an unparalleled solution. "
About Benjamin Capital Partners
Benjamin Capital Partners is the holding company for the
Benjamin App, a new cash-rewards platform for consumers, merchants
and gamers to earn cash, called Benjamin Money Moments, by
completing daily tasks, playing casual games, viewing content and
ads, and making everyday card purchases with cash back. Founded by
industry pioneer Erno Tauriainen,
and led by digital industry veteran Lon
Otremba, Benjamin will disrupt a number of massive
industries, including cashback, gaming, and digital
advertising.
About Play Ventures
Play Ventures is the leading early-stage VC fund investing in
games and games services startups around the world. Visit us
at www.playventures.vc
About F4 Fund
F4 is an early stage fund that backs founders building magical
products across consumer technology, communications and interactive
media. Find us at f4.fund.
Media contact info for 4127677, Lon Otremba, +1 917 698 4101
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SOURCE Benjamin