Steady tech progress; Closed first distribution deal; £504k funding committed; Won UEZ Fintech competition.
In summary:
November was a month of steady progress on many fronts.
Here are the highlights (details available on request):
Customers:
- Connected and active customers up 8.6% month-on-month (‘m-o-m’), whilst in private beta and not actively letting any new customers in.
- Preparations to launch in the Apple AppStore in Dec are on track.
- Exciting scaling plans for Q1 next year, with marketing reach of 550k+ confirmed.
Merchants / Retailers:
- Now have 8 paying partners confirmed. (against target of 10 by end of year)
- 75 live conversations (flat m-o-m as we focused on conversion);
- Expecting 21 to convert with 5 deals very near.
Product:
- 89.1% of users have received at least one upside (83% last month).
- The total number of upsides paid in Nov is up 73% m-o-m as customers gravitate towards partner brands.
- The AOV (‘average order value’ - the key metric for our Merchant Partners) at in-scope partners were up 70.8% against the baseline.
Tech:
- Total transactions processed up 12% m-o-m.
- Auto-match rate now up to 85% (as our models keep improving).
- No major incidents: Production stability and performance remains good.
Ops:
- 82.6% straight through onboarding.
- Customer feedback scores hold at 5 out of 5. With only 6 account closures since launch.
Team:
- Morale remains high. November was a good month.
Distribution:
- We closed our first distribution deal. This is a big win and will give us access to c350k+ new users.
University of Essex (UEZ):
- Upside was chosen as the Fintech Winner of the Angels@Essex startup competition.
- Earning us investment and access to the UEZ students, staff and alumni. That’s 153k+ future Upsiders.
Funding:
- c£504k now committed.
- New Investors joining includes ex-Growth Hacker of Honey (browser extension) and Acorns (US).
- Renewed interest from 7 VCs in Nov.