Why We Invested in Badge
When I co-founded Cardlytics in 2008, wallets were physical entities that held credit and debit cards, the occasional loyalty card, and cash. Today, wallets are digital – and that shift means that businesses need to take advantage of digital wallets as the next major customer interface.
As a fintech founder-turned-investor, I see parallels between what Cardlytics did for card-linked loyalty programs and what Badge is doing for wallet passes. Both companies connect businesses and customers through value-added interactions, driving commerce and building loyalty.
Today, more than 4.3 billion people use mobile wallets worldwide. Wallets power 35% of online purchases and 21% of in-store transactions, according to a 2025 PYMNTS Intelligence report – and that number is only expected to grow. By 2030, online and in-store transaction volumes are projected to exceed $28 trillion.
Eric Senn and the team at Badge saw the opportunity to turn wallets from a static payment platform into a persistent, real-time customer interface. Brands want to utilize wallets as a channel, but building in them is cumbersome, time-consuming, and expensive. Turning wallets into dynamic experiences requires deep platform knowledge, custom integrations, and ongoing engineering, which is why most teams stop at basic pass issuance and most wallet experiences to date are static.
But the future of wallets is dynamic and interactive, and Badge makes that possible.
Badge provides the infrastructure to make Apple and Google Wallets programmable and real-time. Badge’s platform makes it easy for companies to issue branded loyalty cards, membership passes, gift cards, and tickets directly into wallets and update them instantly with new data, images, links, and wallet notifications – laying the foundation for wallet commerce, where transactions are driven directly from the interface.
The company’s strong market traction gave us the conviction to lead their recent Series A round. Badge’s customers are already seeing the benefits of wallet engagement, as dynamic passes have driven repeat e-commerce, higher value purchases, and in-store transactions. What’s more, high-value consumers are leading wallet adoption; 61% of individuals who earn more than $150,000 report higher spending when using mobile wallets. We believe these are strong indicators that underscore the market demand for Badge’s solution. We are proud to support the team at Badge as they continue to innovate in digital wallets, enabling more businesses to meet customers where they are – on a surface that is accessible and always on.
