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GetUpside provides consumers with cashback for swiping receipts. A group of former Google employees, including Wayne Lin and Alex Kinnier, founded it in 2016, Jan Rubio, Joanna Kochaniak, Rick McPhee, Thomas Vaughan, and Rick McPhee.
GetUpside is a smartphone app that lets users earn cashback for scanning their receipts when shopping on Android or iOS.
GetUpside earns money through affiliate commissions. Companies like Burger King and BP, which are partners of the company, pay commissions.
Groupon and LivingSocial send users coupons via email, but GetUpside maps discounts based on the users’ location.
GetUpside business model is based on affiliate commissions provided by brands it works with. A merchant pays the company a fee when a consumer makes a purchase that qualifies for cashback.
GetUpside was founded in 2016 and has grown to become a market leader in the incentives industry. GetUpside shoppers have received over $50 million in cashback benefits to date.
What is GetUpSide?
GetUpside offers cash back rewards on purchases that customers can use to earn cashback. The service is easy to use.
Shoppers must first download the GetUpside mobile app, which is compatible with both Android and iOS phones.
Shoppers then select an offer to redeem. You can earn incentives when you shop at supermarkets, gas stations, and restaurants.
Snap a picture of your receipt and send it through the GetUpside app after you’ve finished your shopping. The platform’s image recognition technology handles the rest.
After an online purchase has been validated, the consumer will receive cashback incentives. You can cash out your rewards by cheque, digital gift card, or PayPal transaction.
About 20,000 separate businesses work with GetUpside, including Burger King, Dunkin’ Donuts, Kmart, and Shell.
The GetUpside app has rewarded buyers with over $50 million in cashback benefits.
How Does GetUpside Work?
A GetUpside account can save you money quite easily. When you load the app and create a free account using your email address or Facebook account, you can start making money in just three simple steps.
Find Local and Online Store
GetUpside works similarly to apps like Ibotta and Checkout 51, but it’s exclusive to gas purchases.
GetUpside collaborates with brick-and-mortar and online retailers across the country. You can access GetUpside cashback offers as well as local gas prices on the app.
Claim Offers
You are prompted to redeem coupons similar to iBotta before making purchases. However, when it comes to earning rewards on gas purchases, GetUpside works similarly.
GetUpside offers two distinct types of promotions:
Receipt Offers
Most retailers require you to upload a receipt as proof of purchase. When you claim a deal, you have four hours to make a purchase and 24 hours to upload your receipt.
Check-In Offers
You can earn cashback from certain retailers simply by visiting a partner gas station and checking in via the mobile app after your purchase. You must redeem these promotions within 20 minutes of making the purchase.
GetUpside also requires payment by debit or credit card. You can expect to receive your offers a maximum of ten days after you have checked in or uploaded an eligible receipt.
Earn & Redeem Cashback
You can find a variety of products on GetUpside. If you want to shop at virtually any big retailer, you can withdraw up to $10.
The fact that this rewards app allows for easy PayPal access also makes it a great choice. You will generally receive your prize within 24 to 48 hours of redemption.
How Does GetUpside Make Money?
GetUpside earns money from each brand with which it partners via affiliate commissions (also called referral fees).
GetUpside receives compensation for purchases of cashback-eligible products made through these partners.
GetUpside, like its competitors Ibotta and Fetch Rewards, uses machine learning technology to present customized offers to consumers.
GetUpside algorithms are fed by a range of anonymous data sources, such as transaction history (such as debit/credit card transactions) and information about a user’s location.
The customization technology could, for example, display other products the customer had not thought of previously.
GetUpside receives a percentage of the sales increases generated by its partners, which increases their sales volumes and profits.
GetUpside also has other reasons for brands to advertise. The first benefit is exclusivity. For example, when three gas stations are adjacent, GetUpside will display only one on the app. As a result, the store will be more likely to attract customers with this sign.
A second issue is that data from traditional marketing channels like television or billboards is ambiguous, which results in a lack of transparency when it comes to ROI calculations.
Every store and user is credited for each purchase made through GetUpside.
GetUpside then provides partners with aggregated data about a shopper’s activity (without sharing any personally identifying information about the shopper), so they can learn which of their products or locations perform well.
Lastly, partners have the option to promote specific products to increase the points they earn. A consumer’s loyalty and brand exposure are enhanced by frequent purchases in a particular category of product.
Here are some other ways GetUpside earns Money:
Save on Gas Station Services
GetUpside offers more than just local gas prices. There are occasionally other services available, such as cash washing.
In addition, convenience store promotions are common. You can also add extra offers such as a wash or 20% back on convenience store purchases up to $3 using GetUpside, as shown in this example. This is a substantial amount of cashback!
This offer also offers $0.15 per gallon cash back, which gives you a choice between earning cashback or awarding it to you automatically.
Restaurant Offers
GetUpside also offers restaurant deals along with grocery retailers to increase cashback.
Even though these offers are still limited to three states, you may be able to earn up to 35% cashback.
GetUpside will prove itself over time as one of the most adaptable incentive applications for supermarkets and restaurants.
GetUpside Grocery Stores
You can earn even more money with GetUpside’s food store discounts, which are now available to you. Unfortunately, there are currently only three specials available in Washington, D.C., Virginia, and Maryland.
Additionally, GetUpside includes two prominent stores: Streets Market & Cafe and Moti’s Market.
The GetUpside app’s new utility speaks well of its future as a money-saving tool, as I’ve never heard of these local businesses.
Success Story of GetUpside
GetUpside was founded in 2016 by Alex Kinnier (CEO), Jan Rubio, Joanna Kochaniak, Rick McPhee, Thomas Vaughan, and Wayne Lin in Washington, DC.
Lin and Kinnier first connected at Google in the mid-2000s after working on the search giant’s ad serving software.
Kinnier later joined Khosla Ventures and New Enterprise Associates (NEA) as a partner. Finally, after five years as an entrepreneur, he joined Opower as Senior Vice President of Products and Engineering.
Kinnier reconnected with Lin, who had joined Opower a few years prior, a platform for utility companies to interact with their clients through software as a service.
The two would also meet their remaining co-founders at the company, namely Rubio, Kochaniak, McPhee, and Vaughan.
The software giant Oracle acquired Opower for $532 million in 2016. The company may not admit publicly to having owned significant shares of equity, but it is plausible to presume that each co-founder held substantial equity in the company.
They all went on to launch their first entrepreneurial ventures after the acquisition. Kinnier’s connections in the venture capital market in early 2016, Kinnier and the company raised $6 million in a seed round.
The public finally became aware of GetUpside a year later, in December 2016. The app initially targeted gas stations for cashback promotions.
GetUpside solely focused on developing relationships with companies like BP, Kmart, and other supply chain organizations in the years following.
GasBuddy and Checkout 51 are two of the company’s largest competitors, with which it was able to reach agreements within March 2020.
These agreements would permit GetUpside to promote its customized offerings on these partners’ platforms.
The year 2020, in particular, was tremendously successful for the organization. Since customers were seeking additional ways to cut costs, the novel Coronavirus’s financial constraints resulted in increased user growth.
GetUpside has served over 25 million consumers since it launched in late 2016. Currently, the company employs over 200 people and operates out of offices in Austin, Chicago, and Washington, D.C.
What is Funding of GetUpside?
GetUpside has raised more than $18 million through four rounds of debt and equity financing, according to data from Pitchbook.
Many investors have provided funding to startups, including Builders VC, Capital One Growth Ventures, Bienville Capital, Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures, Formation 8, and many others.
What is the Revenue & Valuation of GetUpside?
GetUpside is a private company and is not required to disclose revenue or valuation figures to the public. However, Growjo reports that GetUpside generates an annual review of $45.7 Million per year.
Read, How Does Wish Make Money?
Key Takeaways from GetUpside Business Model
GetUpside was founded in 2015 as a cash-back app. After a successful pilot program in Washington, D.C., gas stations, the service was swiftly expanded to include restaurants and supermarkets.
GetUpside earns money by referring customers. When a consumer makes a qualifying purchase using the app, the retailer must pay GetUpside a fee.
GetUpside is backed by extensive consumer spending data, enabling businesses to acquire critical insights regarding their stores, locations, and goods. Additionally, companies facing stiff local competition benefit from being included on the GetUpside App.
Also read, How Does FanDuel Make Money?
