Plastic card based reward app Cardback unveils new look, focuses on Android only approach
India has a low plastic card penetration when compared to the west. However, unlike the last decade it’s catching up as Indians now don’t mind sharing their card details. While online retailers club coupons and offers among others to drive plastic card usage, Delhi-based Cardback, an Android app, helps people save money and spend wisely while shopping, fuel refilling etc.
Launched during Diwali 2012, the startup had released its public version in September last year after amassing feedback from around 1,000 early adopters. The new version of Cardback comes with new design interface and user experience. “We’ve added support for more than 500 credit and debit cards available across categories like shopping, dining, fuel, utilities, health (spas, salons, hospitals), travel, e-commerce and entertainment (movies, plays),” says Nikhil Wason, co-founder Cardback.
Cardback is a location-aware mobile platform and works even if the GPS is switched off on the phone. Importantly, it offers automatic push notification about offers when people visit malls, shopping, theatre etc. The app is available for users across Delhi (NCR), Mumbai and Bangalore.
“When it comes to traction, the app (link) has attracted about 15,000 downloads with 40% monthly active users. We’re adding close to 100 users on a daily basis,” adds Nidhi Gurnani, co-founder, Cardback. Since its debut on Google Play Store, the app has managed to maintain ratings over four.
While most of the app-centric startups focus on Android as well as iOS platforms, Cardback has been focusing completely on Android from the past one year. “We opted for Android-only approach as huge chunks of the smartphone market space in India is Android enabled (around 80% new shipments are Android powered phones),” adds Nikhil.
Besides Android, the company also has a web version for those who don't use Android phones. “We're also doing partnerships with loyalty and privilege card issuers. Recently, Delhi-based Privilege Card has come on-board, and we are also in talks with several other card issuers,” adds Nidhi.
Cardback was also part of The Morpheus Accelerator’s ninth batch last year and Nikhil says the accelerator helped a lot to tweak up the product and shaped crucial strategies. The startup sees decent appetite from investors and it’s confident to close an angel round by first half of this year. In the near future, Cardback plans to strike a chord with banks and get more users on board via social media and word of mouth. “Besides these, several new product enhancements are in the pipeline which aim to deliver super-awesome user experience,” adds Nidhi.
