In the world of customer loyalty, cash back is king — and an Austin startup just got one step closer to the throne.
Dosh, which offers cash back to consumers for shopping within its retailer network, announced on Thursday that it has raised a $44 million Series A to accelerate its product development.
To do that, the Austin startup is expanding its team in a big way.
“Dosh is planning to more than double its work force within the next year and to continue to rapidly scale over the course of the next three years,” said director of recruiting Craig McKinney. “We are excited by the opportunity to bring more of the incredible technical and business talent in Austin into our company as we continue to accelerate our mission of bringing billions of dollars to millions of people.”
The startup’s new investors include Goodwater Capital and PayPal, which has made several high-profile fintech investments in the past year in startups like Raise and Acorns. Several unnamed institutional investors also participated in the round.
To receive cash back from Dosh, consumers link their credit or debit cards to the startup’s mobile app. When that card is used at a participating location, credits for a percentage of the purchase — sometimes as much as 10 percent — are deposited to the user’s Dosh wallet. Users have the option of depositing the money to a bank or PayPal account, or to donate the balance to charity.
The app also lets consumers discover participating locations near them.
Launched in public beta on April 25 last year, Dosh added 3 million users in the past four months alone, according to a release. Retailers on the platform include Sam’s Club, Forever 21 and Papa John’s, among others.
For retailers, Dosh offers a suite of tools to analyze consumer behavior and attract and retain customers. Sam’s Club saw a 29 percent increase in repeat visits and a 60 percent increase in transaction size among Dosh users after two months of using the app, according to the statement.
