Building bits of wealth with Bits of Stock

(Previously posted on Medium on June 14th 2022 but I like this place better)

A new kind of loyalty program…through stock 📈💸

If I had a dollar for every time someone at a checkout asked me “do you have our loyalty card?” I’d probably have enough to be able to own a share of something. Now I know the Wu-Tang Clan in C.R.E.A.M said “Cash Rules Everything Around Me” but perhaps Raekwon and Method Man may revisit with a remix S.C.R.E.A.M to work stock into the equation. So how?!

Enter Bits of Stock, the stock reward hero (I mean app) that we need and deserve, driving brand loyalty through stock ownership. It’s as easy as users linking their card in the app and shopping at their favourite brands. In doing so, they earn fractional shares and crypto as a reward for their business and the whole brand-customer relationship is just that bit better. Amazing when you consider that companies invested $126bn in 2019 on direct brand loyalty and customer relationship management. 🎤 drop.

Brand loyalty is one great consequence of Bits of Stock but we at Keen think that building wealth for younger generations is an equally, if not more important, consequence, especially considering the wealthiest 10% of American households now own 89% of all U.S. stocks, a record high that highlights the stock market’s role in increasing wealth inequality. Bits of Stock therefore now means Bits of Wealth through Bits of Gains. Okay I’ll stop.

We also really like the team’s two pronged approach to building this loyalty category as an alternative to points and cashback. The consumer proposition counts 60 public and private brands and is growing. The B2B proposition (stay tuned for this one) on the other hand will allow public and private brands to build their own stock rewards programmes via the Bits of Stock Growth Rewards API. 🎤 drop x2 for embedded finance.

So with that long preamble, we at Keen are proud to back Bits of Stock, leading their €4.2m seed round with an amazing group of angels and investors. We’re excited to be on the journey with the team and co-founders Arash and Ryan, who are doing their bit for the ownership economy, helping to shape the future of brand loyalty and stock ownership for younger generations. 🎤 drop x3. We’ve also ran out of mics. For now I’ll go back to bumping Wu-Tang ✌🏼