Madison startup Fetch Rewards, which achieved a valuation of more than $1 billion by rewarding consumers' grocery and household goods purchases through its loyalty shopping app, now also has partnerships with Burger King, Papa John's and Panera Bread, the company announced Monday.
Key to the company's expansion into restaurants was the hire of Fetch Rewards chief growth officer Jason Marker, who previously was president of KFC U.S. and the CEO of CKE Restaurants Inc., the company behind Hardee's and Carl's Jr.
"We've found enormous success within the (consumer packaged goods) rewards space, and we're excited to do the same for restaurants," Marker said.
Users upload photos of their receipts in the Fetch Rewards app to earn points that are redeemable for gift cards and other perks. Every transaction earns points, but users get more rewards for buying from Fetch's partners. The company has partnerships with more than 500 brands, retailers and restaurants.
With more than 10 million monthly active users, Fetch Rewards leverages its own data to make partnership decisions, the company said in a press release. It saw an increase in the restaurant category this year, with 78 million restaurant receipts totaling $1.2 billion uploaded between January and September.
Receipts from Burger King, Panera Bread and Papa John's were common, which drove the company's decision to partner with those chains, the company said.
Fetch Rewards also has partnerships with KFC and Jersey Mike's Subs, founder Wes Schroll said at the Wisconsin Entrepreneurs' Conference in June. It plans to add more restaurant, retail and gas station partners, and will also expand into electronics and apparel. The company expects to launch internationally in 2022, Schroll added.
The company announced Marker's hire in August 2020. Marker lives in Nashville, Tennessee, and is originally from New Zealand. Fetch Rewards was dubbed a "unicorn" in March, when it was valued at more than $1 billion after its $210 million Series D funding round.
