Ugami is a fintech company based in the United States that aims to revolutionize the market through a gamified loyalty program related to debit cards for gamers. The team behind Ugami consists of technology entrepreneurs, financial experts, and gamers committed to developing cutting-edge financial solutions.
Since Ugami targets niche audiences such as digital natives, they were looking for a way to enrich their financial services with an engaging and mobile-first loyalty program that would be a real breakthrough in their industry.Â
Here's how they used Open Loyalty to bring gamification to financial services and create a solution that attracts younger audiences who have come to expect highly personalized and compelling brand experiences.
"As a company made up of gamers and fintech professionals, we are extremely excited to see the incredible interest in Ugami from the gaming community. Our mission is to create a safe and secure banking product where gamers can manage their finances and have fun at the same time."
Hector Hulian
Founder & CEO of Ugami
Gamers are fully aware that gaming can be financially expensive, and it may be difficult for some to cover these costs. For example, newer games often require potent graphic processing units (GPUs) and other gaming equipment, all of which can be pretty pricey. Unfortunately, its lack can negatively affect the overall gaming experience. Gamers also need credit products that reward them for what they care about most.Â
Ugami decided to focus exclusively on the gaming community having seen its untapped potential and the opportunity to offer real value for gamers. Fortune Business Insights indicates that the global gaming market was valued at $188.73 billion in 2021 and is expected to reach $307.19 billion by 2029. What's more, the global video game market is concentrated in ten countries (85% of the total number), particularly China and the US.
Ugami wanted to disrupt traditional financial services by extending their product with a multi-merchant loyalty program for gamers. In addition, the company's founders, Hector Hulian and Andres Caldera, boasted extensive experience in finance having previously worked with Visa and other start-ups. This background allowed them to identify a target group with real purchasing potential, namely professional gamers and young passionate about gaming and highly committed to this form of entertainment.
That's why the founders first came up with the idea of the Ugami Debit Card — currently one of the top debit cards for gamers, where users pay for everything with the Ugami Card to get amazing rewards. However, the next step was to go to the extra mile — creating a loyalty scheme that would be fun and enjoyable for anyone who is a true gamer.
After designing a custom loyalty program strategy, Ugami turned to Open Loyalty - seeking a loyalty software provider that met their business requirements and fit into the modern technology stack. Open Loyalty fulfilled these needs perfectly, and a successful partnership was sparked.
Open Loyalty was used as the engine for Ugami's entire loyalty scheme and connected seamlessly with its existing systems. As such, the final product, namely Ugami's loyalty engine became a key differentiator in the financial services market and a key strategic element in terms of Ugami's overall value proposition for their target customers, i.e. gamers.
Every debit card transaction and nearly all actions taken within the app can be rewarded with Ugipoints. This loyalty currency in the form of points can be accumulated and later exchanged for various goods available in the Ugami Store.
The key mechanisms used in the Ugami loyalty program are:
Members of the Ugipoints loyalty program can unlock countless achievements or take part in weekly sweepstakes that add to the thrill. They can also choose from various brand stores to redeem rewards and purchase various gamer products with Ugipoints in an accessible and playful mobile app.
‍The "spin-the-wheel" mechanic is one of the most interesting and engaging ones. In practice, this means that in return for purchasing products with the Ugami Debit Card, the buyer receives additional Ugipoints and the opportunity to participate in a spin-the-wheel event to win a surprise prize. Such additional incentives used to motivate program members and add an element of surprise-and-delight certainly don't hurt — on the contrary, they speak to Ugami's innovative engagement-building loyalty strategy that maximizes the impact of gamification mechanics.
There are two ways users can earn Ugipoints: by using the Ugami Debit Card for transactions and by taking actions within the mobile app. Let's take a closer look at how Ugami awards Ugipoints.
Reward cards usually operate using a simple system: the user receives a given number of points for a certain amount of money spent, or for completing specific tasks. This is also true of the Ugami Debit Card, which offers additional options for earning loyalty points.
The Ugami Debit Card is part of the reward system that grants Ugipoints for every transaction made using this payment method, whether that's by purchasing Ugami products or paying for services. It offers users a simple and easy-to-use credit card experience. There are no hidden fees or maintenance costs, which is definitely a significant advantage over other cards on the market. Additionally, the Ugami Card appears to prioritize security features such as zero-liability protection, virtual card numbers, and biometric login options.
Customers benefit from two types of Ugami Debit Cards, thanks to which they can earn additional Ugipoints:
Using the card offers greater control over spending, as users only use the funds in their accounts (while still being able to earn rewards). This allows them to better manage their spending without accumulating debt, or at least being more likely to avoid it. Users can also easily manage their accounts via the Ugami mobile app.
All Ugami Debit Cards also provide the following benefits:Â
Ugami users can buy from brands other than the Ugami Store, with the caveat they'll receive fewer loyalty points. In this way, the company wants to close more and more deals exclusively in their store. For this reason, they're constantly expanding their network of partners to remain competitive with other gaming hardware brands.
Since the aforementioned debit cards are purely financial solutions, Ugami enriched the app with other innovative features that allow users to earn additional rewards. The mobile app is regarded as the primary touchpoint among English and Spanish-speaking users (the main target audience is American and Latin American).
The Ugami mobile app has many of the following features:
Take a look at the graphic below, which shows some of the features of the Ugami app that users can benefit from.
"The Ugami mission is having fun with finance. We're implementing new features while improving the overall experience with each app release, and the app review scores are reflective of this."Â
Hector Hulian
Founder & CEO of Ugami
Ugami not only awards users with Ugipoints for their purchases but also for in-app activities. They can get loyalty points by, for example, signing up, topping up their accounts, winning weekly sweepstakes, and even inviting friends to the reward system.
Accordingly, users can also earn badges for all achievements within the app. Achievements are rewards given to reward gamers’ efforts for completing tasks. The more challenging the task, the greater the reward and pride in the achievement. Ugami found that some gamers may spend hours, days, or months to claim a long-desired badge! Since each activity is rewarded respectively, participants are more likely to come back for more.
The very best part of this reward system is the creative way in which it divides the user into different categories — they get named using terminology straight out of the games! Each time a user completes ten levels or more, they can achieve a new badge, level up and be rewarded with more Ugipoints over time. Such a mechanic perfectly demonstrates how much Ugami officials understand their target audience, how important such recognition is to their users, as well as the way in which gamification features resonate with their member base.
Ugami Debit Cards are tailored specifically to the gaming community. At this point, you know that users can earn Ugipoints in a variety of ways, but the crucial part is that participants can then redeem those points in the Ugami Store to buy:
And all this from top brands such as Best Buy, Nvidia, Steam, Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo, and so on. Users can also get cryptocurrency vouchers in exchange for their Ugipoints.
"We couldn’t be more proud to support Ugami and their mission to become the leading financial card for gamers. The interest already secured is incredible and speaks to Ugami’s talent and dedication to their vision."
Henri Pierre-Jacques
Managing Partner at Harlem Capital
Open Loyalty successfully expanded Ugami's core product (Debit Card) with loyalty and gamification mechanics to engage their users. As a result, Ugami built a next-generation financial solution with a reward program that allows gamers to redeem points for games, merchandise, hardware and software, and much more. By decentralizing their rewards program to leading gaming and technology brands, the Ugami Debit Card can reach a wide range of gamers, changing how they experience rewards.
According to VentureBeat, Ugami secured a $4.8 million seed round in April 2022 by launching the closed beta of Ugami's inaugural Debit Card and related mobile app. This seed round was led by Harlem Capital Partners as well as ULU Ventures, with participation from FJ Labs, Origins Fund, and Top Corner Capital. This move allowed them to fast-track further development of the reward system.
Ugami Debit Cards perfectly meet the needs of gamers and, not surprisingly, they reached the milestone of being the first debit card for gamers in the United States based on downloads data from the App Store. To celebrate the initial success, the company organized daily GPU Giveaway Days and up to 50% discounts selected GPUs. The lucky winners who happened to catch on got to celebrate together!
The loyalty program mechanics introduced with Open Loyalty are a strategic part of Ugami's general values and customer acquisition strategy. Both Ugami and Open Loyalty continue to work together on the value proposition of the Ugipoints loyalty program to continue to make it even more attractive for gamers.
