Badge is the developer platform for Apple, Google, and Samsung Wallets. Badge makes it easy for companies to build interactive event loyalty & membership cards, gift cards, tickets etc. and send in-wallet offers, push notifications, geo-triggered campaigns, and more.

Why did you start Badge?

My last startup was an app and it was really hard to get people to download it. So, we started looking for another channel/medium that was easier for customers to adopt, and that’s when we started hacking around in Apple and Google wallets. We were blown away by how powerful they were, especially from a marketing perspective (wallets have the ability to send push notifications without an app, support geofencing, NFC, etc.). But most businesses weren’t leveraging these features because Apple, Google, and Samsung wallets are more different than you’d think. Each wallet has unique features and idiosyncrasies that the others don’t often support, so it is difficult to create a consistent and engaging customer experience across those wallets without significant upfront and ongoing dev work. We wanted to build a platform that automates wallets and gives product and development teams a single entry point into all wallet, pass types, and marketing features. The mobile wallet space kind of feels like the early days of social media because the consumer shift has already happened and mobile wallets are already mainstream globally, but businesses haven’t fully figured out how to reach customers in wallets yet. That’s where we come in.

Who is using Badge and what are the benefits they are getting?

• Carrefour is using Badge to power interactive loyalty cards in wallets. Carrefour saw a 24% increase in Average Transaction Value from customers using wallets in 2024
• Shift4 is integrating Badge to power in-stadium loyalty cards for 120+ NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, MLS, and NCAA teams
• Pine Labs has seen a 74% adoption rate of their interactive gift cards, built on Badge
• Yale has launched and Alumni Card on Badge that has unique benefits, discounts, exclusive events, etc. and has higher notification delivery rates than their email and SMS campaigns

What has been the biggest surprise or learning to-date that you didn't anticipate?

We initially thought our ICP would be enterprise b2c retailers (like Carrefour). And we still sell to those customers. But once we put the product out in the wild, we saw there was a big opportunity to help POS platforms and SaaS platforms enable wallet for their merchants. That’s when we built the first embedded mobile wallet platform to enable POS/SaaS platforms to ship powerful wallet experiences in a fraction of the time.

How have your investors been the most helpful?

Helping us narrow our focus (there are so many use cases for wallets), and deal flow/providing intros to the the right people.

What's in store for the future of Badge?

Apple and Google’s vision for mobile wallets is to eradicate physical wallets. We’re betting that happens, and as cards, tickets, IDs, keys, etc. in physical wallets are digitized they will also become more dynamic and more secure in mobile wallets, creating better customer experiences and opening up more revenue opportunities for businesses.