Declare, a platform that’s each a rewards app and a social community, has raised $4 million in a seed funding spherical led by Sequoia Capital. The startup is on a mission to make buying enjoyable, rewarding and social. The app launched on an invite-only beta in January and is at present targeted on college and faculty college students in Boston.
With Declare, customers and their mates can earn money again, trade rewards and even redeem them collectively. The platform is a social community that goals to concentrate on real-world worth and communal experiences moderately than manufactured content material and reposts.
The startup was based by CEO Sam Obletz and CTO Faucet Stephenson in November 2021. The duo met once they turned roommates at Yale and got here up with the concept for Declare once they reunited in enterprise college at Harvard. Obletz and Stephenson initially began out by enthusiastic about what it means to personal one thing digital.
“We began Declare as a result of we have been actually fascinated with what it meant to personal one thing on-line,” Stephenson instructed TechCrunch in an interview. “We noticed this in web3 and we see this sports activities, which is in collectibles. There’s all the time been locations the place you possibly can personal one thing on-line, however there was no generalized type of it. And so we began asking: what wouldn’t it imply to take away all friction to really proudly owning one thing on-line? And that over time, led to Declare.”
The pair began off by envisioning a platform the place you possibly can earn rewards which can be usable in the true world and linked to your bank card. They then determined that customers ought to be capable to use the rewards with their mates or trade them. As they got here up with these concepts, Obletz and Stephenson realized that they have been embarking on a social mechanism that doesn’t broadly exist at this time.
Declare brings shoppers a brand new type of expertise primarily based on worth that’s considerably much like the concept of buying and selling playing cards, however for manufacturers. The startup says it has turned shopper rewards right into a multiplayer recreation by permitting customers to have new experiences collectively whereas saving cash.
Picture Credit: Declare / Declare co-founders Sam Obletz and Faucet Stephenson
When you love a model and your pal hasn’t checked it out but, you possibly can ship them a particular reward like a free acai bowl out of your favourite espresso store or a t-shirt out of your favourite streetwear model. You may trade rewards, attempt new locations collectively, and earn standing from spending at manufacturers. Declare additionally does a “drop” as soon as per week the place customers unwrap a brand new reward on the identical time. Customers can resolve to redeem the reward, present it or commerce it with mates.
Though Declare goals to be useful for shoppers, the startup can be targeted on serving to entrepreneurs and types attain new prospects in a method that doesn’t contain bombarding them with adverts on Google, Instagram and TikTok. On Declare, shoppers uncover manufacturers by way of rewards from mates. The startup believes that the flexibility to really attempt a product is extra useful than an advert when attempting to achieve new prospects.
“We make it a lot simpler for entrepreneurs,” Obletz stated. “We will discover prospects primarily based on the place they store and the place their mates store. In the event that they haven’t gone earlier than we can provide them a reward to attempt their model for the primary time, which is tremendous crucial as a result of we’re bringing in actual new prospects, and we are able to present them how efficient that reward was primarily based on spend. And so it’s simply this insanely easy advertising software that we’ve created.”
The startup is at present working with retailers starting from Fortune 500 corporations, like PepsiCo, and native eating places, corresponding to Life Alive in Boston.
Declare’s early outcomes have been promising, because it says one associate on its platform hit 97% of their new buyer objective in half the anticipated time, whereas one other acquired prospects with a 35% repeat price inside 30 days.
Declare is at present targeted on Gen Z as its complete consumer base as a result of it believes this group of persons are fascinated with authenticity and are uninterested in promoting, particularly when each different submit on social media today seems to be sponsored. The startup desires to proceed testing in Boston, the place it at present has greater than 10,000 customers, earlier than finally increasing nationally.
As for the brand new funding, the corporate plans to make use of it to rent new expertise and develop its eight-person crew over the subsequent 12 months. Declare can even use the funding to concentrate on testing and studying from an engineering perspective earlier than increasing into new markets.
The startup’s seed spherical follows its unannounced $2 million pre-seed spherical led by Susa Ventures and Field Group. Declare’s funding rounds included participation from sixth Man Enterprise, Reflexive Capital, A* Capital, GSW Ventures, The Kraft Group and extra.
