Oct 14, 2020

External | what does this mean? This content is provided by an external author without editing by Finextra. It expresses the views and opinions of the author. Yoyo to create global loyalty brand following merger with South Africa's wiGroup 46 minutes ago Source: Yoyo Yoyo, the leading UK-based marketing, payments and loyalty company, and wiGroup, the South African-based mobile rewards software company announced today that they are joining forces to create a global loyalty company under the Yoyo brand. The new Yoyo will service existing and new clients through its combined operations in the UK, Europe, Africa, and Australasia. The company has raised additional primary funding from SaltPay, supported by existing investors IP Group. The two companies each offered a variety of payment, loyalty and reward Software as a Service solutions to their clients, serving major brands like Kauai, vida e caffè, Burger King, KFC, and Dunkin Donuts across the UK, Europe and in South Africa. The new Yoyo will focus on high demand customer engagement and loyalty products, which drive both new customers, repeat business, as well as increased frequency and ticket-size to merchants. Core services include: ● Yoyo Wallet: A mobile application that combines payments, ordering and loyalty to provide customers with the most rewarding buying experience at thousands of outlets across the UK. ● Retail branded applications: Takes the power of Yoyo and white labels the solution for merchants to own the customer experience, providing them with powerful online tools to drive customer acquisition, retention and increased spend. ● Enterprise Rewards: Provides businesses with a rewards API to issue digital gift cards to customers and employees to incentivise and reward. Yoyo co-founder and CEO, Michael Rolph and wiGroup co-founder and CEO Bevan Ducasse have been working for a few months to bring the companies together. Michael Rolph commented, “We saw in wiGroup many of the capabilities that customers in the UK and EMEA were asking for in addition to the products and services we already provided. In Bevan and the wiGroup team, we saw great talent, a similar culture and outstanding leadership that suggested that combining the two companies would create a best-of-breed global company.” “Through joining forces we’re able to leverage resources across regions, to invest behind one consolidated SaaS product, further our joint vision of delivering the world’s most rewarding buying experience and advance a global growth strategy,” added Ducasse. “This is particularly important in the current economic and COVID climate and we will be making several exciting product announcements in the coming months about how we can help support the SME market.” David Yates, chairman of Yoyo Wallet added: “The combination of know-how and skills brought about by the merger of Yoyo and wiGroup, together with renewed investment, enables a bright future for the company. We look forward to continuing to serve our customers with a laser-focus on improving their ‘bottom-line’ through innovation in loyalty services.” As part of the deal Crossfin Technology Holdings, who was one of the first investors in wiGroup, has exited as a shareholder after a highly successful twelve-year partnership. Anton Gaylard, Chief Operating Officer at Crossfin, says wiGroup is well-placed to aggressively internationalise the business following the conclusion of the deal with Yoyo. “wiGroup was the first business that we invested in and has proven to be one of South Africa’s great entrepreneurial tech success stories. We wish Bevan and the team well as they continue to grow their presence locally and globally over the coming years.” Related Companies