附近上门

Editor’s note: A previous version of this story listed Ibotta as the first tech unicorn in Colorado. It is the only tech unicorn in Colorado. The headline has been changed to update this correction.聽

Colorado鈥檚 only tech unicorn is one that wants to kill traditional coupons. It’s nothing personal of course, but rather a shift toward an app-based system that offers cash back when shoppers buy anything from burritos to groceries.

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, a Denver-based payments company just raised an undisclosed nine-figure Series D led by . The company is now valued at $1 billion. The startup offers a coupon alternative for consumers that want to save money and get cash back rewards. Users of the Ibotta app can shop at places like , , , among others and get cash back rewards for each transaction.

, founder and CEO of Ibotta told me that its 鈥渢rying to put the paper promotions business out of business.鈥� In addition to offering cash back awards, Ibotta lets users purchase using those rewards through their own app.

The free Ibotta application has more than 35 million downloads, and to date Leach said the company has given $600 million back in rewards to its customers.

Ibotta鈥檚 angle isn鈥檛 necessarily an outlier in the fintech space. When allowing payments in-app, he explained that there are 鈥渃ertainly a lot of moving pieces.鈥�

鈥淵ou need to be compliant with relevant regulations, you need to be aware of how to mitigate risk, fraud, and you also have to have a larger user base in order to be interesting to merchants,鈥� he said. The exec compared Ibotta鈥檚 in-app purchasing power to China鈥檚 .

The especially unique aspect of Ibotta is that its enabling the mom-and-pop liquor store down the street (for example) to have a sophisticated tech element through a dedicated app that pushes customers their way.

鈥淢ost grocery stores may have not invested heavily in their own apps鈥� many people have never even built their apps,鈥� he said. And that鈥檚 鈥渂ecause they can rely on our traffic, because we鈥檒l give them their share of voice and footprint.鈥�

For retailers with existing robust rewards program, like Starbucks for example, Ibotta provies a convenient add on.

鈥淓very retailer has their own loyalty program, but the problem is there鈥檚 millions and millions of people who don鈥檛 have [every retailer鈥檚] app on their phone,鈥� he said. A single app that aggregates all your favorite brands from Adidas to Burger King, tends to be convenient, he added.

Leach said the company鈥檚 size helps.

鈥淚f we were too small we wouldn鈥檛 be considered able to move the needle to [a customer鈥檚] business, plus we wouldn鈥檛 have the marketing budget,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut if you get too big it鈥檚 hard for you to pay attention to fast emerging trends and new disruptive technologies.鈥�

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