TiiCKER – a company that is known as the world’s first shareholder loyalty and engagement platform – announced it has closed on a $5 million seed funding round led by Baysore Advisory Group, Red Cedar Ventures, and Flipturn Ventures with participation from a group of tech and consumer CEOs and family offices. The financing is earmarked for new talent and technology, including software and new product development, expanded partnerships with brokerages and other retail investor platforms, enhanced AI technology for improved direct-to-shareholder marketing tools, and sales and developer talent to keep pace with user and client growth.
TiiCKER is known for inventing verified shareholder perks in 2020 with the launch of its web and app platforms and completed its first pre-seed funding round in July 2021. And TiiCKER – which is the first intelligent software platform to verify and reward retail shareholders with perks and rewards from a wide variety of publicly traded companies while simultaneously unlocking a previously ignored affinity audience for public companies found in their retail shareholder base.
Over the last 3 years, TiiCKER has successfully created a new industry in direct-to-shareholder marketing that has gained traction among partners like the motion picture and television studio operator Lions Gate Entertainment, car aficionado services and lifestyle company Hagerty, and consumer brands like Whirlpool, Real Good Foods, and Willamette Valley Vineyards.
TiiCKER noted that proceeds from the raise will support continued investment in its AI-driven platform and apps to help companies find and engage their retail investors and convert brand fans, influencers, and consumers into investors. And it will also expand its measurement tools to help major brands and public companies launch optimized perks, measure the Return on Investment of its marketing spend in new consumers, first-party data, and sales, all toward driving tangible Shareholder Lifetime Value or the purchasing power and ownership value of a shareholder over the life of their investment.
TiiCKER recently announced a record 2022, delivering a 119% increase in registered users and a 140% increase in total retail stock holdings connected on the TiiCKER platform – which put it on pace to exceed $1 billion in retail stock ownership by the second half of 2023. And TiiCKER’s continued success was also fueled by over 1 million investor visits and brand page views as well as thousands of total perks redeemed in 2022, all in the face of stock market headwinds.
To support its employee and customer growth, TiiCKER also recently acquired a five-floor, 25,000-square-foot building in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan for its new headquarters. And the company plans to implement a series of renovations to both accommodate its own growth and transform parts of the building into co-working and other leasable spaces for technology companies to drive more innovation, collaboration, and talent attraction.
KEY QUOTES:
“The number of public companies turning to shareholder perks has surged by nearly fivefold since our founding three years ago, and TiiCKER has been at the forefront of this movement. In 2022, we saw user growth more than double, our retail investor community surpassed half a billion dollars in invested assets, and companies and brands are unlocking the buying power and loyalty of retail investors at an exponential rate. This raise is gratifying and a clear endorsement of our momentum, particularly in the current and challenging market for venture capital, and we’re exceedingly grateful to our investors who share our obsession for rocket-boosting the shareholder loyalty market.”
– Jeff Lambert, Founder and CEO of TiiCKER
“Every retail investor is a consumer by definition, and they want the perks of ownership with 77% saying they’d buy a stock that offers perks or shareholder discounts, and 80% desiring perks from the current companies they own. Shareholder loyalty is what’s next in affinity marketing, and we’re excited to put this capital to work in B2B and B2C campaigns that show the win-win of shareholder perks.”
– Kanan Banerjee, Chief Marketing Officer for TiiCKER
