Mobile Payments Meet Loyalty. Time to LevelUp!

CAMBRIDGE, MA--(Marketwire - Oct 12, 2011) - LevelUp, the smarter way to pay from the team that powers SCVNGR, today announced that it's doubling its cities and bringing LevelUp goodness coast-to-coast, along with a brand new app for iPhone and Android.

So what is LevelUp? Well. It's something utterly awesome: a new mobile solution that brings loyalty, rewards and payments together in one seamless system for merchants and consumers.

In English, please? Sure. LevelUp is the smarter way to pay. Pay with your phone. Save time. Save money. It works at hundreds of merchants in Boston, NYC, SF and Philly.

Where did it come from? LevelUp initially rolled out in March with the mission of solving the loyalty/repeat customer void in the burgeoning daily deals space. Its first version was all about unlocking progressive deals to encourage repeat traffic. The pilot program in the Boston and Philadelphia markets went great, but not quite great enough. But like most pilots, version 1 yielded some amazing intelligence. For us, that was some important insight into the way businesses create and maintain loyalty in a social, mobile world.

We've tinkered with that data to publicly unveil the next generation of LevelUp. It's been in pilot mode in Boston and Philly for the last eight weeks and, in short, it rocks the house.

"The deals-rewards space still lacks one huge value proposition for merchants: the tools and insight to know whether or not their marketing efforts are actually creating new, loyal customers," said Seth Priebatsch, Chief Ninja at LevelUp and SCVNGR. "Instead of hoping -- but not knowing -- that an incentive brings a customer back again, LevelUp brings the loyalty and transaction together, and empowers merchants to reward customers, both new and repeat, for their business."

Anyone with an iPhone or Android can download the app, link their favorite credit or debit card to LevelUp and, well, that's it. Just go to any merchant and pay with LevelUp. Your personal QR code gets scanned and a second later you'll get an instant push notification and email receipt.

At each business, you'll start with credit (think: free money) to spend on whatever you want. No buying deals or clipping coupons. The money's just there, waiting for you. Just pay with LevelUp and it gets automatically applied.

Even better, whenever you go back, keep paying with LevelUp and you'll not only be the coolest kid in town (paying with my phone #welcometothefuture), you'll also progress towards unlocking even more credit to spend on whatever you want at that business.

Sound sweet? Join LevelUp for free and leave your wallet at home: www.TheLevelUp.com

Merchants of any size can join LevelUp, also for free. Just give us a shout and you'll be live in no time.

Accepting LevelUp as a form of payment is simple. Just download the LevelUp Merchant App, or get one of the LevelUp terminals for your counter.

Everything else is taken care of. Your customers can now pay with their phones and you can track their progress towards unlocking your rewards in real-time. Think of it like a seamless and mobile version of the sandwich punch card. But in this case, the loyalty is the payment method.

Even better, you'll be able to watch your business grow. Learn about your customers, keep them engaged and attract new ones. And, you'll save on payment processing fees when people pay with LevelUp instead of their credit/debit cards. (It's magic -- ask us about it.)

Show Me The Numbers:
LevelUp's pilot program has seen hundreds of merchants sign up in Boston and Philadelphia because of its overwhelming success in creating real repeat business:

• 45% of all customers return to LevelUp merchants to pay full price within 30 days.
• 65% of customers at LevelUp's quick-service restaurant merchants return and pay full price within 30 days.
• The average LevelUp customer increases their spend by 38% on the transaction in which they unlock the next level of credit.
• The average LevelUp user is already using it about twice a week and that's trending up... fast.
• The average LevelUp user tips 21% at sit-down restaurants. (Waiters of the world, rejoice!)

"Freakin sweet!" added Seth.

We're Really Excited About This
With today's launch, we're creating the best way to try new places and get rewarded for going back to the ones you love. We're creating a new model for the local loyalty economy. And it's awesome.

About LevelUp
LevelUp is the smarter way to pay. Pay with your phone. Save time. Save money. It's 100% free and easy to use. Get started at http://TheLevelUp.com

For merchants, LevelUp is like a high-tech loyalty program, meets mobile payments, meets customer analytics cornucopia of awesome-sauce. Learn more at http://TheLevelUp.com/business.

SCVNGR + LevelUp is funded by Google Ventures, Highland Capital Partners and Balderton Capital.