Unlockd launches in India to offer revolutionary opt-in solution for telcos and their customers; partners with Smile & Aircel

• Unlockd’s mobile platform rewards users for viewing targeted ads, deals & offers when they unlock their smartphone
• Advertisers, including Nearbuy, Little, OYO Rooms and Go Paisa get reach opted in consumers with the right message at the right time, resulting in market leading engagement and deal offer redemption
• Partners, including telcos, get new revenue streams, increased customer retention and acquisition

India, October 16th, 2017:  Global value exchange mobile platform Unlockd today announced a partnership with Aircel, one of India’s leading mobile service providers, and the launch of the ‘AircelOpen2Earn’ app, powered by Unlockd.

This is Unlockd’s eighth market launch and its first in India. The app provides a value-based proposition for Aircel users, rewarding them with Rs 10 top up credit every week for simply unlocking their phone and viewing personalised ads, deals & offers, effectively converting their attention into rewards.

Unlockd’s value-exchange model is tailored to meet industry needs, as it allows advertisers to gain first access to opted-in consumers and presents a unique opportunity for high impact and targeted screen time (a time before the user checks Instagram, Spotify or Facebook).

Advertising is delivered based on the user’s interests and geo-location, to ensure maximum relevancy. Users can simply dismiss the ad or click through for more information. They can also check their accumulated points throughout the month in the ‘progress’ tab within the app

To support its expansion into the region, Unlockd has formed an investment and strategic partnership with local market leading  group, Smile, one of Asia’s best media companies and its ‘internationalisation’ platform, Katalyzers. This platform, run by Rishabh Gupta, has invested an undisclosed amount in Unlockd and is securing top tier brand partnerships in the region. Previously, Katalyzers has entered into successful joint ventures and investment deals with global internet companies such as Airbnb, Yahoo!, WPP Digital, Ogilvy Neo and Com Score.

Smile group founder and co-founders, Harish Bahl and Manish Vij, said “We are delighted to announce our investment in Unlockd as their Indian partner and are excited that local  advertisers will now get to experience the same benefits advertisers on other global Unlockd platforms have, such as market leading engagement and deal offer redemption. We have already had very positive interest, with Nearbuy, Little, OYO Rooms and Go Paisa secured for the launch of Open2Earn with more to come”.

Matt Berriman, Co-Founder and CEO of Unlockd, said: “We’re excited to bring our globally proven platform to one of the world’s fastest growing and dynamic markets, one in which a billion Indian subscribers spend hours a day on mobile devices. I’ve always had a vision to provide people a valuable reward for the time they spend on their devices and we can provide up to 40rps a month - up to 30% of a phone bill. “Open2Earn not only gives users rewards in the form of mobile top up credits, but also personalised offers, deals and coupons from some of the country’s best-known and loved brands. This is how we stand apart from other players like Jana and Data Back (Times of India)”.

The partnership supports Unlockd’s broader commitment to the Indian market, reflected in its high profile advisors and investors, opening of an office & recruitment of a local team, including recent senior hire & former Hindustan Times National Head of Sales, Abhijeet Ranjan as Commercial Director. Unlockd is also supported by Mr. Prabhat Sethi, former Managing Director of Murdoch Media who will establish and drive outcomes of Unlcokd in India. 

Anupam Vasudev, chief marketing officer of Aircel, added: “In a highly fragmented market, a proposition like Unlockd’s provides Aircel with a unique opportunity to build stronger relationships with our existing customers by rewarding them for something they are doing every day – spending time on their mobile devices. At the same time the model will drive new revenue streams for our business and attract new customers to the network”.

Unlockd is considered the first company to create an ‘attention-based’ virtual currency. The company plans to apply its technology to multiple industries to provide consumers with a meaningful value exchange. We have created the world’s largest ad-driven virtual currency, and are on track to return $500 million to the Unlockd community globally by 2025.

In less than two years Unlockd has achieved several milestones, making it among the world’s fastest growing media & technology companies:

• Launched ‘Unlockd Connect’ for telcos in six major markets (US, UK, Caribbean, UAE, Indonesia, India)
• Launched ‘Unlockd Stream’ for OTT streaming services with MTV Trax in the UK
• Launched ‘Unlockd Loyalty’ for loyalty programs with Australia’s biggest loyalty program, Flybuys
• Raised Series B funding of $30 million, totalling $50 million invested since 2015
• Now it has global teams based across its offices in Delhi, London, New York, Singapore & Melbourne.

ABOUT UNLOCKD: 

Unlockd is changing the way people use and pay with their digital devices.

The revolutionary mobile platform is the first to create an “attention” based virtual currency platform for consumers.  In exchange for viewing relevant ads, content or offers upon unlocking their smartphone, users amass points to redeem items like mobile credit, premium entertainment content or loyalty points.

It’s not only the consumer who benefits from this value exchange. Unlockd’s unique win-win-win model means partners, whether they are telcos, streaming services or loyalty programs, address customer retention and acquisition while driving new revenue streams and increasing ARPU. 

Major content and advertising partners including Twitter, Yahoo, MoPub and high profile brands such as McDonalds, British Airways, Doritos and Uber, receive coveted first access to consumers at their most engaged digital moment. Unlockd provides the opportunity to deliver the right content at the right moment, resulting in market leading engagement and click through rates. 

Unlockd’s enterprise grade proprietary technology is tailored to meet industry needs via three product streams:

Unlockd Connect targeted specifically at forward thinking mobile operators, with five major markets in operation including in the USA with Sprint Telecom subsidiary Boost Mobile, UK with Tesco Mobile, the Caribbean with Digicel Group, Etisalat in the UAE and AXIS in Indonesia

Unlockd Stream is the ultimate ad funded platform for OTT subscription content providers and launched in 2017 with MTV’s music player MTV Trax. The first and only model that offers an uninterrupted listening and viewing experience for consumers, Unlockd Stream enables providers to monetise non-paying subscribers 

Unlockd Loyalty provides a platform for loyalty programs to solve challenges like member engagement & increased frequency of point redemption that will contribute to the health of the loyalty programme ecosystem. It launched in 2017 with one of Australia’s largest programs, flybuys.

The company was founded in Melbourne in 2014 and has strategically located offices in New York, London, Singapore and New Delhi.

www.unlockd.com

About Aircel Limited

Aircel is one of India’s leading innovative mobile service providers. The company is a pan-India 2G operator with 3G spectrum in 13 circles and is credited with the fastest 3G roll out ever in the Indian telecom space. As a young data led telecom player, Aircel has constantly been at the helm of introducing innovative and value for money products and services for its customers, be it the Aircel Pocket internet, taking the first step in making 3G affordable for the masses or launching revolutionary Industry first data products aimed at fuelling Internet adoption.  

The company has been the proud recipient of coveted awards such as Voice&Data Special Leadership Recognition in ‘Customer Service’ category, ET Telecom Award 2014 for its innovative customer care research model, Aegis Graham Bell award 2015, in Innovation for its “Zero Premium Assurance” solution for high service availability, Data Quest Award 2015 for ‘Excellence in Implementation and Use of Technology for Business Benefits’.

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