Startup spotlight: Tappit is tailored to fans and venues

FinTech Magazine continues its series on the top startups to watch this year by speaking with Jason Thomas, CEO of Tappit, the global cashless payments and event insights solution.

Hi Jason. How does Tappit work?

We provide events, stadia and venues their own data ecosystem, providing actionable insights to make their events even better and more profitable, all whilst improving the fan experience. We do this via our unique end-to-end cashless payment solutions, including white-label payment apps and RFID solutions

How does Tappit stand out in the market?

We are very aware that there’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all policy when it comes to cashless payment and access systems. Because we offer various cashless solutions – for example, mobile and rfid wristbands/cards – we can tailor each solution based on the demographics of fans and tech infrastructure of a partner. It also means that we can work long-term with our partners, as we have different solutions that we can introduce as their fans and tech infrastructure evolve. I also think that because we are event and sporting fans ourselves, rather than just a faceless tech provider, we very much focus on the fan experience -  the benefits for the event owner is clear - building your own data ecosystem and making more money, but this only works if you get the fans to adopt cashless, therefore we work closely with our partners to ensure shorter queues and that they use the data to offer fans incentives that engage them, as well as ensuring ethical pricing for fans.

 What was your last major milestone or award?

2019 was a really exciting year for us, with over two million users across 14 countries and US$35mn worth of transactions. A recent milestone for us was the introduction of Tappit Insights. Tappit Insights gives immediate access to in-depth analysis of spending and behavioural trends through a series of reports. The unique thing about these insights is that they can be applied to any type of event and allow organisers to save on cost, reduce overheads and get closer to their audiences. Unlike normal contactless payment systems, this data actually connects event organisers directly to their attendees. The new insights can link directly to their CRM system and allow them to see who is spending what, when and where; do a deep dive on inventory and product offerings; evaluate staffing allocation and personalise marketing based on previous purchasing behaviour. 

 Is there any exciting news you’d like to share with our FinTech Magazine readers? 

We’re making particular headway across some major sporting events, globally. Fans aren’t fans for life anymore and we’re delighted that organisations who want to ensure fan loyalty and engagement are understanding the benefits that going cashless brings to their business. We should be announcing some major international sporting brands partnering with us in the coming months - watch this space! 

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What can we expect from Tappit in 2020?

2020 is going to be a bumper year for Tappit. We are continuing to grow our presence internationally. Last year, we signed a number of first-time deals, and it’s incredibly exciting to see our partners renew their contracts for coming years; the demand from fans and organisers has clearly demonstrated the value that going cashless brings for everyone. We will also be investing more money on tech development than we ever have before, including the expansion of our own development team. Therefore, expect to see some exciting new functionality focused around data insight to improve the fan experience.

About Jason Thomas, Global CEO, Tappit

Jason has a proven track record of leading international teams in countries across Europe, Asia and North America, working for companies such as Sony, Virgin, HMV and Universal. He was part of the executive team at Ticketscript that brokered a multi-million dollar trade sale to San Francisco based ticketing company Eventbrite. He specialises in business transformation and strategy implementation in disruptive technology, ecommerce, business intelligence and data driven industries.

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