Loyalty program startup Taggo raises Series A from Jungle Ventures and SPRING SEEDS

Taggo, a Singapore startup offering merchants a platform for social-media integrated loyalty programs at no cost, has raised a Series A round led by Jungle Ventures and SPRING SEEDS Capital.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but SPRING SEEDS, a government funding scheme, typically invests between SGD 300k to SGD 1m (USD 234k to USD 783k) in a round. Meanwhile, Jungle Ventures has been involved in deals in the USD 1m to 2m range.

The startup turns an ordinary Facebook Page into a ‘Fan Club’, which works like a traditional discount card program. The difference is that it offers tight integration between the brand’s POS system, the platform itself, and the merchant’s Facebook Page.

Taggo’s obvious selling point is that it is free for merchants. Payment companies, credit cards, and banks are the ones that are paying for the service, and they benefit from the increase in transactions that result from the loyalty program.

The service currently supports NETS and MasterCard. It claims to boost a card’s usage by three to four times at participating merchants.

For consumers, Taggo’s convenience can be attractive. After registering for the first time, customers won’t need to download an app just to participate, unlike mobile loyalty programs Perx and Mogi. Instead, customers would just supply their mobile numbers to the staff at the store, who checks it against the system.

Taggo is currently running fan clubs at over 100 restaurant and retail outlets in Singapore. It is on track to double that number by September. The company is founded by CEO Aneace Haddad, who started and ran Real-Time, a banking and marketing software firm, until 2009.

Jungle Ventures invests in startups in digital marketing, digital media, cloud, commerce and other sectors from Singapore, India, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Phillipines and other Asian countries.

It most recently funded micro-lending platform Milaap, mobile commerce app ShopSpot, and vacations rental site Travelmob.