Bumped Helps Brands Grow While Consumers Grab a Piece of the Company

Brand awareness is not the only key to company identity and differentiation in the marketplace, but for a Portland, Oregon-based startup, brand loyalty can also grab consumers a piece of the company.

Bumped launched its new app at the end of 2020 and is rapidly grabbing the attention of people who want to not only be rewarded for their brand loyalty but get fractional shares of the company back for their purchases. Bumped users create a brokerage account and then link their credit or debit card and after spending money with companies get a percentage back in fractional shares or possibly a piece of a full share.

Bumped was founded in 2017 by David Nelson, whose background was in digital gift cards and now serves as the company CEO. For Nelson, Bumped is a new approach to loyalty rewards and a means of consumers to be an owner of companies they patronize.

“Everyone deserves to be an owner and companies deserve a reward that builds over time,” said Nelson who believes his company’s first-of-its-kind platform empowers brands and banks to give back to their customers in a very unique way. It’s also a gateway to getting consumers invested personally and financially in a U.S. stock market that only half of Americans participate in. With little or no risk, consumers using Bumped have the potential to grow with the companies they love and feature 80 brands from AT&T (NYSE: T) to Burger King and CVS (NYSE: CVS) which have already shown a 1.5X increase in monthly brands rewarding them with stock and a 43 percent increase in monthly spending.

“Investing without requiring incremental spend is critical to helping people navigate the present and save for the future,” said Nelson. “Bumped creates a simple but powerful entry point to the stock market, allowing users to not only make the most of their money now but to prepare for the future as well.”

This year, Rakuten-owned Cartera announced they are partnering with Bumped and adding them to their publisher network.

Bumped has 40 employees and is using a $30 million Series A round to help support its growth efforts. Canaan Partners, Valor Siren Ventures, Peninsula Ventures, Commerce Ventures, and Oregon Venture Fund also have participated with funding.