HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach Newswire – 5 June 2024 – Coupons might be the oldest marketing tool, yet having digitally transformed, it still works well today as a convenient and paperless buying incentive for digital-savvy consumers to redeem online, in-app, or in person by simply allowing merchants to scan a QR code on their phone. Revolutionising digital coupon marketing with a ready-made, cloud-based infrastructure for businesses to issue, distribute and process their digital coupons at ease and at scale, Mezzofy today announced the completion of Pre-series A funding round of USD 2 million to bring the start-up’s global expansion plan to life and support its product advancement for the web3 future. The Pre-series A funding round was led by Isola Capital’s IPVF VII with participation from Ooosh Tech Lab, as well as co-investment capital from the Hong Kong government-backed ITVF.
Digital coupon, usually presented in form of a QR code nowadays, is a convenient, paperless, hygienic and secure option to the highly digital savvy consumers amid the post-pandemic era. Brands and retailers around the world have deployed digital coupon campaigns to cater to the change of consumer behaviour, at the same time putting ESG into practice with digital coupons being paperless. According to Transparency Market Research, the global digital coupon market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 18.6% from 2021 to 2031, expected to cross the value of USD29.7 billion by 2031, with APAC being the second-largest market.
Nearly 100 brands across the Asia-Pacific region, including Maxim’s Group, Starbucks Hong Kong, Hong Kong Electric, Shell, SaSa, Hong Kong Housing Society, and Hyatt Hotels Corporation have chosen to run their digital coupon campaigns on the Mezzofy platform. Mezzofy’s CaaS (Coupon-as-a-Service) model allows corporations to use the product right out of the box without having to invest an upfront cost to develop their own platform from scratch and can also integrate with their existing mobile apps, CRM, POS or ERP systems seamlessly via Mezzofy API. Compared to physical coupons, marketers can reduce over 87% of cost running their coupon campaigns digitally, at the same time understand customer behaviours through analysing data of the digital coupon usage for optimising marketing and sales strategies. More importantly, as fraudulent coupons could cause severe damage of millions of dollars to retailers annually, Mezzofy makes every digital coupon serialised and traceable, reducing risks of fraudulent digital coupons to just 0.00005%, thanks to our proprietary technology.
Dicky Ying, Co-founder and CEO of Mezzofy, said: “The growing popularity of digital payment and ecommerce among Hong Kong consumers aids the digital coupon market to bloom. However, some consumers face a pain point when using digital coupons is that once they receive it via an app, it has to be stored in their own device, they cannot pass it to their friends and families, unlike a physical coupon, hindering them to actually use it. We have long identified the issue thus we have set the digital coupons as transferable by default in our solution; consumers can easily share it, just as sending a message to their friends. These are just one of the things that make Mezzofy unique in the market and stand out in the competition.”
Currently managing a team of 40 members spanning across R&D, product development, operational support and commercial functions at offices in India, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Hong Kong headquarters respectively, Mezzofy has managed 400 million digital coupons across 15 markets (Hong Kong, Macau, Mainland China, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, India, Cambodia, the Middle East, and the United Kingdom), the value of which exceeds USD 5.1 billion[1]. With its Pre-series A funding, Mezzofy will deepen its presence and gain greater market share in these markets, at the same time go global to reach the US, the largest digital coupon market, as well as in Europe. The company also plans to advance its product capabilities using big data, AI and blockchain technologies.
Anthony Chan, CEO of the lead-investor Isola Capital said: “Mezzofy is an exceptionally promising FinTech company, especially given its ability to successfully scale and grow its operations in multiple markets in Asia over the past seven years. We have confidence in Mezzofy and its ability to continue to innovate and develop advanced technologies and applications, and we are excited to be an important partner in Mezzofy’s exciting journey.”
About Mezzofy
Mezzofy is a Hong Kong-headquartered start-up that has built a ready-made digital coupon infrastructure that helps businesses to issue, distribute and process their digital coupons at ease and at scale, also as a means to realising its ESG commitment. Established in 2014 and launched in 2016, Mezzofy has managed 400 million digital coupons across 15 markets, of which the accumulated value exceeds HKD 40 billion (as of 2023). Mezzofy is backed by Isola Capital’s Isola Private Equity Venture Capital Fund VII (“IPVF VII”), Hong Kong’s Innovation and Technology Venture Fund, and Ooosh Tech Lab.
About Isola Capital
Isola Capital is an asset management and family office investment platform with a well-established history of preserving and generating wealth through prudent and entrepreneurial investments.
Isola Capital has presence in Hong Kong, Singapore and Brussels, and through its licensed institutional platform provides a range of proprietary investment strategies and solutions across private equity, venture capital, private credit and liquid secondary markets to family offices and HNW investors.
About Ooosh Tech Lab
Ooosh Tech Lab is an Integrated Venture Capital firm investing into the future of web and work. We facilitate equal opportunity and further scalable impact on our world by cultivating decentralisation technologies and business networks. By way of doing so, we build ecosystems with our Coworking Space and Incubator for early-stage start-ups, angel investors and all other contributing stakeholders to engage, learn and elevate each other.
