Bitcoin Rewards Scheme Lolli Gains $2.25m Investment
Despite yesterday’s dramatic Bitcoin price crash, which saw a sudden 10% plummet in the popular cryptocurrency’s value, some entrepreneurs are continuing to ride high on the Bitcoin wave.
New start-up company, Lolli, has just benefitted from a massive $2.25m cash injection from a number of major US investors, including Version One, Bain Capital Ventures, Alex Chung, Brian Sugar, Gokul Rajaram, FJ Labs, SV Angel, 3K VC, and Forerunner Ventures. While Lolli is still in its infancy, it has already formed partnerships with more than five hundred popular brands including Walmart, Marriot, Hilton, Groupon, Macy’s, Sonos, Bloomingdales, and Barnes & Noble.
In a similar way to how web-based UK cashback sites operate, Lolli allows its users to earn up to 30% of their purchases back. But, rather than awarding the cashback as real withdrawable cash, the app credits users with Bitcoin.
The team behind the start-up aims to make it easy to own, earn, and share Bitcoin with as many people as possible. Hence, they created the first Bitcoin rewards site that lets its users earn the cryptocurrency when they shop online with selected brands. Lolli generates revenue by receiving a percentage of each sale from its affiliate partners, which it then splits with its users.
Once a customer signs up with Lolli, they can either shop via the main website or download and install a browser extension which tracks all qualifying purchases. The cryptos that are earned by its members are stored in an online wallet which is protected by state-of-the-art software and network security. Users can cash-out their earnings once they’ve accumulated the equivalent of at least $10 US dollars in their accounts.
Users are also given the opportunity to increase the amount of Bitcoin cashback earned by using the site’s referral scheme.
According to Forbes, Lolli has already generated more than $1m’s worth of sales, and as it already has more than five hundred retail partners, the recent $2.25 seed funding round would indicate that Lolli intends to expand beyond a mere crypto rewards scheme.
One of the company’s primary investors, Bain Capital Ventures, is keen to help fund the new Bitcoin rewards start-up in order to help remove distribution issues. Bain Capital Ventures’ MD, Scott Friend, believes that the cryptocurrency is being held back from becoming mainstream as currently, it can only be sourced through mining or investing.
Another of Lolli’s recent investors, Version One Ventures, believes that the innovative rewards programme provides a “much more frictionless” experience for the average person as it introduces them to the idea of earning Bitcoin while shopping rather than requiring them to buy currency. Plus, because the consumer acquires cryptos by making purchases through selected retailers, there’s zero financial risk.
Although the terms and conditions on Lolli’s website do not mention any country restrictions that apply to prospective members, the websites which qualify as part of the scheme are all based in the US. It will, therefore, be interesting to see if the concept of Bitcoin cashback catches on with any UK start-ups or existing companies in the near future.
By Laura Kilby.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/darrynpollock/2018/11/15/big-investors-put-2-25-million-behind-bitcoin-reward-startup-lolli/#4162b0903cae and https://www.lolli.com/terms-and-conditions
