Badge Raises $17 Million to Make Digital Wallets the New Brand Interface

Badge raised $17.1 million to expand its wallet platform that enables businesses to interact with their customers through Apple and Google digital wallets.

The company raised $13.8 million in a Series A round and $3.3 million in a previously unannounced seed round, according to a Thursday (Feb. 19) press release.

Badge will use the funding to support its go-to-market efforts, product development and partnerships, the release said.

The company’s platform enables companies to issue wallet cards, update them in real time, send messages through wallets and measure performance, according to the release.

With these capabilities, businesses can issue branded loyalty cards, membership passes, gift cards and tickets directly into wallets; update them with new data, images, links and wallet notifications; and make wallets the place where they and their customers interact, per the release.

“More people are leaving their physical wallets at home and relying entirely on their phones to transact,” Badge co-founder and CEO Eric Senn said in the release. “That shift creates an opportunity for businesses to use digital wallets as a direct connection point with customers. Badge is the infrastructure that lets companies operate that interface at scale.”

Lynne Laube, venture partner at TTV Capital, which led the Series A round, said in the release that Badge has emerged as a “foundational platform” as mobile wallets become a way for consumers to interact with brands.

“Badge enables brands to operate wallet experiences that are real-time, measurable and built for scale,” Laube said in the release. “We’re proud to support the team as they help define how businesses engage and grow with customers through this surface.”

The PYMNTS Intelligence report “Pocket Revolution: How Mobile Wallets are Changing Payments Worldwide” found that across the 11 countries surveyed, mobile wallets account for 21% of in-store transactions and 35% of online transactions.

The figures are up 10.9% and 5.2%, respectively, since 2022, according to the report.

Another PYMNTS Intelligence report, “Apple Pay @11: Usage Is Up, but Competitors Are Gaining Ground,” found that convenience drives initial adoption of mobile wallets. Among new mobile wallet users, the most common reason for trying the technology was that it was the easiest or fastest option available.

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