ERN, the UK-based start-up behind a platform that allows banks and merchants to aggregate and analyse data generated by card transactions, has raised $1.6 million in seed funding.
The money, which comes on top of a $2 million round late last year, has been put up by "a number of high net worth individuals" and will be used for platform development and staff hires. Former Mastercard executives Anant Patel and Brian Eagle-Brown have already come on board in recent months.
Launched in February and now going into testing with several firms, ERN's Looop platform brings together card payment and merchant data in real time to enable banks and retailers to see the granular detail of every purchase.
The firm says that for banks, the in-depth analysis of transactional data will help them understand how people - individuals and groups - use their credit cards to purchase goods, enabling them to encourage and reward customers for usage.
Meanwhile, the platform will let merchants build effective loyalty and reward schemes that don't rely on a 'one size fits all' approach, but offers individual customers discounts on things they really want to buy. Customers receive e-receipts and are sent customised coupons through their mobile phones, where they can also see transactions and oversee their spending.
Dan Brassington, CEO, ERN, says: "For too long banks and merchants have been stifled by legacy IT systems that don't allow them to analyse the masses of data created by transactions. With Looop, we aim to help them turn the data into insights and the insights into action, while offering benefits to consumers that will promote long-term loyalty."