After graduating from college, Anik Khan began his career at Accenture as a credit card and business expense specialist. He discovered that a person could make a few thousand dollars by simply having the right credit card and following the rewards or promotions.
He and David Gao had the idea for MaxRewards in 2017, a digital wallet that automatically activates rewards, cashback offers, and monthly credits. It will also recommend which card offers the highest reward at the time of purchase.
The app version of the company's credit card app was launched in 2019 and is now being announced by Dundee Venture Capital, Calano Ventures and Calano Ventures. Techstars, Fintech Ventures Fund and Service Provider Capital are also backing the company, as is Fleetcor president Nick Izquierdo.
Khan, who used MaxRewards to track his credit cards manually, recalled that he received $16,000 in rewards after a year. But, it was difficult and time-consuming to use these benefits, as the rewards and savings aren't always obvious by credit card companies.
Khan explained to TechCrunch that similar efforts have been made by other companies. However, you don't have the offer information or reward information. You would still need to activate all these items and make use of them before they expire if you were to combine this information.
Connect your accounts to make purchases. Your location is linked with the merchant to determine which card you should use. An average app user has six credit card accounts.
MaxRewards can be downloaded and used for free. The majority of the app's functionalities are also free. MaxRewards Gold members can request additional features such as auto activation and rewards. They have the option to set their own monthly price, which is usually over $25 per month, based on what they expect to gain. Khan stated.
Ron Watson, Dundee partner, stated that his company invests in seed-stage businesses between the coasts, and is open to investing in consumer and ecommerce companies. Watson stated that he was impressed by the work MaxRewards did with just three people. Watson also understands the company's mission because he grew up in a middle-class, lower-income family that didn't take vacations often.
He recalled how he built up so many rewards that he could afford a trip to Hawaii for only $100 after he had his first job.
Watson explained that I used to manually enter my points into spreadsheets. But as I grew older and had children, I realized how difficult it was to do this and how important automation is. I downloaded the app and saved $20 the first day.
Khan says MaxRewards is often compared with Mint and NerdWallet, but that the company's functionality is exceptional due to its credit card connectors. MaxRewards uses its own connectors to connect to card systems and not relying on third-party aggregators.
Khan realized that there are many thousands of offers out there, and that consumers want more features. So he decided to pursue seed funding. Khan had previously raised a seed of about $200,000 through Techstars. However, the new funding will allow him to expand his team of three. He anticipates that he will be at 20 by year's end. Khan wants to increase user acquisition, product improvements and compliance.
The company will automate rewards, savings, and payments across additional platforms such as debit cards, payment app, cashback apps, and create browser extensions as well as a web application. Khan wants to be more involved in education regarding smart credit card use.
Calano managing partner Arron Solano met Khan through Techstars. He said that Khan is a champion for credit cards being used in the right manner. His company was searching for MaxRewards.
My partner and I talked about Anik during our first call. He was a bulldog that knew his stuff, especially at that stage. Solano agreed. His vision was clear and he had strong team members. That ticked a huge box for us. He was a great motivator and demonstrated that he can find super users in a large market.
