Special Report: Burgeoning interest in blockchain technology has seen Reffind Group’s share price soar, following news its blockchain investment, Loyyal, has secured major sophisticated investors to fund its regional expansion.
It’s been a big month for Reffind Group (ASX: RFN). The company’s share price has doubled since the end of August as investor attention turned to the lucrative possibilities on the horizon following some great news around its booming blockchain play.
Loyyal, the blockchain loyalty and rewards business which Reffind is invested in, has now set its sights on regional expansion thanks to successfully completing its Series A-4 funding round with USD $1.15 million raised from leading Asia-based investors – Unblock Ventures, Recruit Co, Monex Group – and Dubai-based Hayaat Group. Recruit Co in particular is listed on the Tokyo stock exchange with a market capitalisation of over $5 trillion yen (converting to $70 billion AUD).
Unblock Ventures own the LINE messaging app (Japan’s equivalent of Whatsapp) and the other investors Monex and Hayatt Group have market capitalisations of over $1 billion when converted to AUD. It seems that some very big players see the potential in Reffind’s Loyyal investment.
Loyyal’s CEO Greg Simon is excited about the game-changing possibilities of applying blockchain to a highly fragmented industry with untapped value in legacy loyalty programs.
“Having worked in Tokyo’s banking sector for several years, I’m intimately aware of how powerful loyalty programs are in the region,” he said.
Reffind Group, which invested USD $2.3 million in Loyyal in January last year, is one of 36 blockchain stocks listed on the ASX and retains a 14.7% stake in the interoperable rewards platform.
Loyyal is injecting a fresh twist to the world of legacy loyalty programs today. Its platform makes transferring rewards between loyalty programs seamless, allowing users to receive and redeem points in real-time.
The platform’s latest iteration, released in February, is capable of nearly 8000 transactions per second, per program operator on its network.
The blockchain loyalty management industry marks a pivotal shift for Reffind Group who is looking to change the way customer loyalty and employee incentives are managed.
While almost one in 10 (7%) of fintechs in Australia today use distributed ledger solutions, significant potential still remains in using blockchain to reinvigorate loyalty programs that have long suffered from low client retention rates, time delays and high costs.
With the global loyalty rewards market expected to reach USD $9.28 billion by 2024, investors have recognised the regional opportunity facing Reffind Group is ripe for the taking. In particular, Loyyal has found a niche servicing major airline loyalty programs, with a major international airline already on board with Loyyal.
And Reffind Group’s non-executive chairman Rumi Guzder is confident this is only the beginning.
“The investment in Loyyal represents a substantial asset for Reffind shareholders,” he said.
“The quality and size of these new investors shows the exciting opportunity Loyyal represents going forward.”