Feb 05/18NEWS

Mobile Loyalty Software Company: wiGroup secures global investment

Mobile loyalty software company wiGroup secures global investment from Virgin Group and Smollan

 

Wigroup

 Mobile software firm wiGroup announced that it has secured investment from two leading global companies to fast-track its entry into emerging and developed markets. Virgin Group and retail solutions leader Smollan purchased a stake in the business for an undisclosed sum. This follows similar investment from Investment manager: Investec Asset Management in 2015.

wiGroup CEO Bevan Ducasse says the investment comes as the company is looking to accelerate its global expansion program.

Our presence in Europe and expansion into Australasia and emerging markets will be fast-tracked by leveraging both Virgin Group and Smollan’s extensive global networks. As a business this brings us one step closer to realising our vision of simplifying and improving the way the world transacts.”

Virgin is a leading international investment group and one of the world’s most recognised and respected brands. It has grown successful businesses in a number of sectors including travel & leisure, music & entertainment, mobile & media, financial services and health & wellness. Virgin also has investments in a number of sectors including over 35 technology-focused investments; spanning consumer internet services, fintech and sharing economy sectors.

The investment from the Virgin Group follows a successful partnership with wiGroup on the creation of Virgin Money South Africa’s new peer-to-peer payment app, Virgin Money Spot, which launched in January 2018 and allows customers to send money to friends in a simple, safe and social way.

Josh Bayliss, Virgin Group CEO, says: “More and more people are using their phones to pay each other, pay for products or take advantage of loyalty offerings. wiGroup is an established player in this sector and has innovative solutions in place which will simplify and improve mobile transactions globally.”

Bayliss adds “We are always on the lookout for innovative companies with an eye on making our customers’ lives easier; we’re delighted to be investing in wiGroup and we look forward to supporting them on the next stage of their business journey.”

Smollan is an international retail solutions provider operating in five continents and over 450 000 retail stores worldwide. CEO David Smollan says: “wiGroup has successfully pioneered mobile loyalty, rewards, and transacting services for some of the world’s leading brands. Its understanding of mobile as a transactional tool is perfectly suited to brands operating in both developed markets as well as fast-paced emerging market environments. We look forward to a strong partnership with Bevan and his team.”

Rapid growth bears fruit

wiGroup growth has been rapid since it was founded in 2007, with year-on-year growth over the last number of years consistently being over 45%, and a growing African market presence in countries including Namibia, Nigeria, Mauritius, and Ghana.

In less than a decade, wiGroup has established itself as the largest mobile transactional platform in Africa with over 75 000 integrated till points accepting mobile payments, loyalty and rewards transactions. Through our software as a service, we’ve delivered mobile transacting solutions to leading international hospitality and retail brands who are looking to enable their customers to engage and transact via their mobile phones in a simpler and more rewarding way.

Global expansion underway; emerging market plans unchanged

Ducasse says the business has recently established in Amsterdam, London and Paris, and is looking to the Middle East and Australia as key growth markets over the short to medium term. “We hope to leverage our new partners’ extensive global footprints and explore opportunities to create shared value between our businesses. In addition, our strategic focus on Africa – which will be home to one-fifth of the global consumer market by 2025 – remains in place, especially in light of the continent’s high penetration and usage of mobile.”

Smollan was founded in 1931 as a South African based sales agency. Today, Smollan is a leading retail solutions company employing over 60 000 employees and associates in 24 markets across 5 continents. “Smollan’s experience with directing all aspects of how a brand is managed at the point of purchase, and its extensive global footprint create natural synergies with our consumer-centric mobile transactional software and point-of-sale integrations. Smollan’s presence in Southern and East Africa also aligns with our growing footprint in West Africa and Mauritius over the past few years,” remarked Ducasse.

With more than 60 businesses serving 53 million customers in 35 countries, Virgin is one of the most recognisable brands in the world. Ducasse says “Virgin has a focus on working with innovative entrepreneurs to identify and commercialise new services and technologies; their purpose-driven approach to business is something which wiGroup is proud to join forces with.”

“Our business faces a world of exciting new opportunities just as we cross the ten-year mark. We look forward to working closely with our new partners over the coming months as we bring our vision to the world.”

wiGroup’s key clients include leading retail, banking, quick service chains, insurance, and telecoms companies. The company emerged the winner of the 2016 FNB Business Innovation Awards, and the 2015 PwC Vision to Reality Award. CEO Bevan Ducasse is also an Endeavour member. For more information, please visit www.wigroupinternational.com

About wiGroup

wiGroup makes mobile payment and brand rewards simple. The software company, founded in 2007, provides mobile-first transactional technology that enables the convergence of payment and loyalty value to over 75,000 retail lanes. To date, it has processed transactions worth more than $500 million. Its platform allows for the flexible, rapid and robust integration to more than 40 Point of Sale systems and is used by Africa’s largest Retailers, Hospitality and Quick Service restaurants, and Telco and Financial Services companies. For more information, please visit www.wigroupinternational.com

About Smollan

Founded in 1931, Smollan is a retail solutions company, delivering growth for retailers and brand owners across five continents. We cover every aspect of how brands are managed in retail environments through the creation and execution of leading solutions in field sales, retail execution, activation, information, and technology. Internationally recognized for our exceptional human platform of over 60 000 people and our sophisticated systems, we drive sales and create brilliant shopper experiences for some of the world’s most loved brands. With well-established and very successful partnerships with the global leader in advertising and marketing services, namely WPP plc (WPP) since 2009 and a unified solution across Europe through our partnership with Advantage Solutions since 2015. For more information on Smollan, visit: www.smollan.com/in

About Virgin Group

Virgin is a leading international investment group and one of the world’s most recognised and respected brands. Conceived in 1970 by Sir Richard Branson, the Virgin Group has gone on to grow successful businesses in sectors including mobile telephony, travel & transportation, financial services, leisure & entertainment and health & wellness.

For more information visit www.virgin.com

Press Contacts

wiGroup:

Nicholas Bednall, CMO
Tel: 021 448 9974
Email: NicholasB@wigroupinternational.com

Andre Fourie, PR Consultant, Fury Strategic
Tel: 079 505 5422
Email: andre@furystrategic.com

Smollan Group:

Monique Yaffe, Chief Marketing Officer
Tel: +27 11 458-0000
Email: monique.yaffe@smollan.com/in

Virgin Group

Tamara Bennett, Head of Media Relations
Tel: +44 7964 016832
Email: Tamara.Bennett@virgin.com