How GetUpSide Makes Money (Even Though They Give Cashback)

GetUpside is a cashback app offering consumers rewards for uploading receipts to its platform.
The app is available for Android and iOS devices.
GetUpside makes money through affiliate commissions from its 20,000+ partners.

Alex Kinnier (CEO), Joanna Kochaniak, Jan Rubio, Rick McPhee, Wayne Lin, and Thomas Vaughan founded GetUpside in 2016. The company has its headquarters in Washington, DC. The founder's Lin and Kinnier met while working at Google in the mid-2000s.

Since its launch, the company has grown to become one of the leading companies in the cashback rewards space.

GetUpside users have earned more than $100 million in cashback rewards since its inception.

What does GetUpside do?

GetUpside is a cashback rewards platform for consumers.

The company partners with more than 20,000 retailers, including grocery, clothing, and consumer goods stores.

They also offer cashback rewards for restaurant and fuel purchases with select gas stations and food services.

The platform offers a user-friendly experience with easy navigation, making it easy for consumers to get rewards on their purchases.

The platform operates through an app available for Android and iOS devices.

Users take a photo of their receipt and upload it to the platform. The AI reads the receipt, validates it, and issues the cashback rewards to the user's account. Users then cash out rewards using digital gift cards, checks, or deposits to their PayPal account.

GetUpside works with premium brands, including companies like Kmart, Dunkin' Donuts, Burger King, and Shell.

As a result, it's one of the leading cashback rewards apps on the market, with more than 30-million users benefiting from its services.

How does GetUpside work?

GetUpside offers easy registration for users. It's also remarkably easy for retail partners to access the platform and register their business on the network. There are several benefits for retailers signing up for the site.

The platform offers exclusivity for its users. That means that if you own a restaurant, the app suggests it to users in your local area. As a result, you get more foot traffic walking into your business.

Partners also benefit from the data that GetUpside collects on their customers and target market. As a result, partners get an accurate view of the traffic GetUpside drives to their store or business.

Partners get an aggregated view of shopper behavior, helping them determine their top-performing locations and products.

It's also important to note that GetUpside doesn't share any personal information with its users.

Partners can also promote product offerings by increasing the user's number of points with their purchase.

This strategy makes it more attractive for consumers to purchase their products.

As a result, partners experience better brand awareness and improved levels of customer loyalty.

How GetUpside make money

GetUpside makes money from affiliate commissions, personalized offers, and white-label solutions from its partners.

Let's look at the GetUpside model in detail.

Affiliate commissions

GetUpside earns income through affiliate commissions it makes from its partner network.

When a user uploads a receipt, a portion of the sale amount goes to GetUpside as a commission.

Personalized offers

GetUpside, like Fetch Rewards, utilizes machine learning algorithms to serve its users with personalized offers.

The platform feeds a set of data points to its algorithm, including the spending history of the user pulled from their debit or credit card transactions and location data.

The tech then displays additional products to the user that they wouldn't have otherwise taken an interest in buying.

As a result, GetUpside partners experience increases in sales volumes, benefiting the GetUpside referral fee model.

White-label software solution

GetUpside also offers white-label solutions for some of its larger partners, like Uber and GasBuddy.

As a result, it gains from referral fees generated by these white-label solutions.

Future growth engine

GetUpside raised more than $70 million over five funding rounds.

Some of the notable VCs involved in the company include Capital One Growth Ventures, Formation 8, Builders VC, Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures, and Bienville Capital.

The company intends to reach profitability within the next three years.