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Upside

Mobile reward application for retail spending

Upside logo
201-500 employees
  • Fintech
  • B2C
  • Retail
  • B2B
  • Marketplace
  • Payments
  • Mobile
Dupont Circle, Washington, DC

Company mission

To advance the economic power of people living and working in the real world.

Led by a woman
Top investors

Few candidates hear
back within 2 weeks

24% employee growth in 12 months

Our take

Loyalty systems, vouchers, and other special offers have a proven track record at winning over new customers for businesses. However customers can be reluctant to sign up due to the sheer number of these schemes. Upside exists to unify these loyalty schemes with a single flexible reward app.

While retail reward platforms are nothing new, Upside functions more like a marketplace, linking participating businesses to potential customers. It also rewards customers with cash back on eligible purchases, a more flexible reward than is traditional in loyalty schemes. With over 50,000 businesses enrolled and 30 million app users, Upside has grown into a major player in this sector.

Having secured investments in a 2022 round of equity funding, Upside expanded into mobile payments, growing its value to over $1.5 billion. Upside is moving to scale its operations by hiring additional talent and forming new partnerships with brands and businesses. As growing inflation impacts the cost of living, Upside's product will likely be increasingly appreciated by consumers and businesses who depend on their custom.

Freddie headshot

Freddie

Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle

Benefits

  • Lunch - We cover the cost of lunch everyday for team members onsite to enhance our team building and encourage collaboration. Plus local restaurants appreciate it!
  • Health and Wellness - We’re happy to provide our team members with generous health, vision, and dental insurance options
  • Stock Options - Our team’s success is our company’s success, and we should all have a stake in that. We’re glad to offer our team members valuable stock options
  • Unlimited PTO - Yes, you read that right. When you need time off, we’ve got you covered

Company values

  • Empathetic - We enjoy learning from our users, merchants and teammates in an effort to improve every day. We thoughtfully build products that add value and seamlessly become part of your every day
  • Genuine - We are passionate about our mission to help people & businesses thrive. We are our authentic selves, inside and outside the office
  • Diverse - We are deliberate about building a diverse workforce, and value the richness that different perspectives bring. We appreciate that diversity spans multiple dimensions — racial, cultural, socio-economic, educational, opinion-based, and more
  • Supportive - We prioritize relationships with our users, merchants, and within our team. We embrace our individuality, accept one another, and appreciate each person’s contribution to our mission
  • Transparent - We are open with our merchants, users, and fellow team members about all aspects of our business. We are open about company successes and failures, and socialize issues to collectively problem-solve
  • Impactful - We are motivated by the impact our work has on the world. We are thoughtful and deliberate about the way forward, and use data to guide our decisions

Funding (1 round)

Apr 2022

$65m

SERIES D

Total funding: $65m

This company has top investors

Leadership

Alex Kinnier

(CEO & Co-Founder)

Experience as Group Product Manager for Google from 2005 to 2008. Senior Vice President of Products and Engineering for Opower from 2012 to 2015.

Wayne Lin

(CPO & Co-Founder)

Experience as Product Manager for Google from 2005 to 2010. Vice President of Product Management & Analytics for Opower from 2010 to 2015.

Rick McPhee

(Co-Founder)

Experience as Vice President of Engineering for HP's Fortify Software from 2008 to 2012. Senior Vice President of Engineering for Opower from 2012 to 2015.

Joanna Kochaniak

(Co-Founder)

Experience as Programmer Analyst for the Institute for Physical Sciences from 2007 to 2010. Lead Software Engineer for Opower from 2010 to 2015.

Jan Rubio

(Designer & Co-Founder)

Experience as Research Assistant for George Washington University from 2009 to 2011. Senior Software Engineer for Opower from 2011 to 2016.

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