Rewards-based digital payment app TWID raises $1.4 mn

Online reward points aggregator TWID has raised about $1.4 million in a seed funding round led by SVC, a family office of first-generation entrepreneurs who have backed several technology firms in the United States and India.

SVC has previously secured funds from investors like YourNest Fund, Whiteboard Capital, and Capillary Technologies, TWID said in a statement 

TWID pools and tracks loyalty and rewards point data from across users’ bank, retail, entertainment, F&B and travel accounts. It then lets users spend the points as online/offline cash currency, instantly assigning value to the points aggregated. 

“In the US, the rewards ecosystem is compelling and completely consumer-centric. As India’s consumption story evolves along with a rising middle class who are price-sensitive, rewards will be the key differentiator for retailers and service providers alike,” the statement added.

TWID was founded to bring value into what it claims is a $2.25 billion unnoticed rewards points across the Indian consumer market. 

“By bringing the points in rotation, we’re ensuring a boost to digital transactions in the country through incremental swipes and spends on cards, net banking, and UPI. We will also facilitate additional earning on the same transaction for both our partners and consumers,” said Amit Koshal, chief executive, TWID.

Launched in 2018, TWID aims to onboard over 50 brands and banks with their rewards pool. It is targeting over 300,000 merchants to accept TWID as a mode of payment and over three million active users to transact using TWID, it said in the statement. 

Founded by former software engineer Amit Sharma and IMT Ghaziabad alumni Rishi Batra and Koshal, TWID is the second start-up venture for the trio, who had earlier founded Fashalot together.

Fashalot was a real-time cloud & mobile based pre-sales analytics platform that serviced retailer partners such as Reliance Trends, Bata, Puma, Levis in driving their store footfalls offline.

While Koshal has earlier worked with Intuit, Balaji Telefilms and Myspace, Batra has worked with Bennett, Coleman & Co and Copal Partners. Sharma has previously worked with Intuit, Oracle, and Hewlett-Packard.