DETROIT–Tiicker, which claims to be the world’s first shareholder loyalty and engagement platform, announced it has closed on a $5 million seed funding round, led by Grand Rapids-based Baysore Advisory Group, East Lansing-based Red Cedar Ventures, and Flipturn Ventures, with participation from a group of tech and consumer CEOs and family offices.
The Tiicker financing is earmarked for new talent and technology, including software and new product development, expanded partnerships with brokerages and other retail investor platforms, enhanced AI technology for improved direct-to-shareholder marketing tools, and sales and developer talent to keep pace with user and client growth.
“The number of public companies turning to shareholder perks has surged by nearly fivefold since our founding three years ago, and Tiicker has been at the forefront of this movement,” said Jeff Lambert, Tiicker founder and CEO. “In 2022, we saw user growth more than double, our retail investor community surpassed half a billion dollars in invested assets, and companies and brands are unlocking the buying power and loyalty of retail investors at an exponential rate. This raise is gratifying and a clear endorsement of our momentum, particularly in the current and challenging market for venture capital, and we’re exceedingly grateful to our investors who share our obsession for rocket-boosting the shareholder loyalty market.”
Tiicker invented verified shareholder perks in 2020 with the launch of its web and app platforms and completed its first pre-seed funding round in July 2021. Tiicker is the first intelligent software platform to verify and reward retail shareholders with perks and rewards from a wide variety of publicly traded companies, while simultaneously unlocking a previously ignored affinity audience for public companies found in their retail shareholder base.
In the last three years, Tiicker has successfully created a new industry in direct-to-shareholder marketing that has gained traction among partners like world-class motion picture and television studio operator Lions Gate Entertainment (Tii:LGF.A, LGF.B), car aficionado services and lifestyle company Hagerty (Tii:HGTY), and consumer brands like Whirlpool (Tii:WHR), Real Good Foods (Tii:RGF) and Willamette Valley Vineyards (Tii:WVVI).
“Every retail investor is a consumer by definition, and they want the perks of ownership, with 77% saying they’d buy a stock that offers perks or shareholder discounts, and 80% desiring perks from the current companies they own,” said Kanan Banerjee chief marketing officer of Tiicker. “Shareholder loyalty is what’s next in affinity marketing, and we’re excited to put this capital to work in B2B and B2C campaigns that show the win-win of shareholder perks.”
Tiicker officials added that proceeds from the raise will support continued investment in its artificial intelligence-driven platform and apps to help companies find and engage their retail investors and convert brand fans, influencers and consumers to investors. It will also expand its measurement tools to help major brands and public companies launch optimized perks, measure the return on investment of its marketing spend in new consumers, first party data, and sales, all toward driving tangible “Shareholder Lifetime Value” or the purchasing power and ownership value of a shareholder over the life of their investment.
More at www.tiicker.com.
Baysore Advisory Group is a family office focused on early and late-stage venture and private equity investments nationally. Red Cedar Ventures is the early-stage investment fund and start-up community birthed from the Michigan State University Foundation targeting technology companies in Michigan. Flipturn Ventures is the early-stage investment arm of Tiicker founder Jeff Lambert and includes seed investments in Cirkul, Dream Exchange, Libby Wines, and investor relations and marketing firm Lambert Global.