The seed investment will be used to rapidly grow the company’s development team and to bring several new functionalities in the coming months.
Passworks is a Software as a Service product which allows brands and retailers to create, manage and distribute marketing campaigns through Apple’s Passbook, Google Wallet and Windows Phone Wallet.
Using either Passworks’ web-based platform or Application Program Interface (API), brands and retailers can easily create a pass in the design studio and distribute a mobile marketing campaign that may take the form of digital coupons, membership or loyalty cards and events or travel tickets.
Users can add to push-notifications and location-based triggers to set up specific messages to particular venues, so anyone holding the relevant pass will be informed when they are within reach, and also do real-time updates.
The platform’s “smart distribution” functionality enables users to define their target customer, and distribute the passes to the right audience and to discover new customers. The “smart targeted distribution” takes full advantages of social media advertising and also other relevant channels according to the assigned audience profile.
Customers see the campaign on their social channels and add the pass to their mobile Passbook, or other mobile wallet app, to redeem later. When they are close to a defined location they will receive a notification of the offer in order to draw them into the store, register them for a deal or buy a ticket to an event.
By using the platform to create pass-marketing campaigns, that can be distributed widely, brands and retailers have the opportunity to profit from a new and innovative form of marketing, which sits directly in the consumer’s pocket.
Francisco Belo, founder and CEO of Passworks, said: “We’re entering the age where technology, branding and retail are really starting to work together to create an effective method of delivering targeting offers to consumers. Passworks is the way to get your brand’s message direct to consumers’ pockets.”
Faber Ventures, a venture development and investment firm focused on early stage digital businesses, worked and partnered with Passworks from the start, acting first as venture builder and now as co-investor in this round.
Alexandre Barbosa, managing director at Faber Ventures, said: “We’re really excited to be supporting Francisco and the Passworks team in their on-going creation of a complete location based mobile marketing solution for brands and retailers. Passbook, Google Wallet and Windows Phone Wallet are still very new to the market, and finding the best way to tap into them is an on-going development.”
