hello again Receives Investment in the Tens of Millions from EMERAM for European Expansion

The Austrian scale-up hello again is bringing a new growth partner on board. Funds advised by EMERAM are investing a double-digit million amount in the digital customer loyalty provider and acquiring a significant stake. With this capital, hello again plans to strengthen its position in the DACH region, expand into other European markets, and increase investment in AI-based products. Despite the new investment, the founders and existing investors remain majority shareholders.

This marks the beginning of the next growth phase for the Linz-based scale-up, which was founded in 2017. According to the company, more than 1,000 businesses now use hello again’s loyalty solutions. Through its clients’ apps, the platform reaches approximately 18 million active users.

In addition to geographic expansion, the company is planning another strategic move: the customer programs, which have been largely independent until now, are to be more closely linked through shared partner benefits. This could gradually lead to the creation of a comprehensive loyalty alliance for small and medium-sized businesses from among more than 1,000 corporate customers.

EMERAM Takes a Significant Stake

The exact amount of the financing and the shares acquired were not disclosed. All that is certain is that the investment amounts to a double-digit million sum and represents a significant stake.

We share both the focus on the DACH region and on small and medium-sized businesses, and we are pursuing a shared vision for the future of hello again.

Franz Tretter, Founder and CEO of hello again

According to hello again, control of the company remains with the existing owners. Even after the transaction, the co-founders and initial investors will collectively retain a majority stake and are expected to actively steer the company’s future development. With EMERAM, the company now gains an investor who, in addition to providing capital, is expected to support, in particular, the international scaling and further development of the business model.

More than 1,000 companies rely on hello again

hello again develops digital customer loyalty programs for businesses. These programs enable customers to build their own apps and loyalty offerings, through which, for example, bonus programs, promotions, and personalized communications are managed.

The company serves a broad target audience, ranging from regional small and medium-sized businesses to international corporations. Among its clients are Deichmann, Müller, and L’Osteria.

The technology is used, for example, in retail, the restaurant industry, bakeries, pharmacies, and recreational facilities. According to the company, hello again now has more than 1,000 corporate clients and reaches approximately 18 million active app users through their applications.

AI Aims to Address Each Customer Individually

Part of the new capital is to be invested in the technological development of the platform. In doing so, hello again is placing greater emphasis on artificial intelligence.

One example is the new AI autopilot for personalized messages. The system analyzes individual customer interests and, based on this, automatically determines which message a user receives and when it is sent.

Instead of a marketing campaign that is rolled out to large customer groups at the same time with the same message, this approach is intended to create more personalized communication.

hello again states that using this personalized approach can increase revenue by an average of eight percent. This figure comes from the company.

The business rationale behind this is clear: As acquiring new customers becomes more expensive, the question of how to engage existing customers more frequently and retain them over the long term becomes increasingly important.

A SME Alliance to Emerge from 1,000 Customers

In the long term, however, the planned networking of corporate customers could prove even more interesting than the AI features.

hello again aims to establish new business models centered on partner benefits and to unite its more than 1,000 customers into a shared alliance of small and medium-sized businesses.

This could allow the business model to evolve beyond the provision of individual loyalty apps. Instead of providing a separate customer loyalty program for each company, a comprehensive network of benefits could emerge among the participating companies.

For hello again, this would be strategically significant: With each additional partner, the benefits for other participants in the network could potentially increase as well.

EMERAM partner Matthias Obermeyr accordingly points to the creation of an “integrated benefits ecosystem for partners”—in addition to internationalization and AI development—as a key focus of the collaboration.

European Expansion as the Next Step in Growth

At the same time, hello again aims to consolidate its position in the German-speaking market and expand into other European countries. The press release does not specify which markets will be targeted first. Nevertheless, international expansion is likely to be a decisive step for the company.

While customer loyalty is not a regional issue, the market for loyalty technologies is highly competitive on an international scale. hello again must therefore demonstrate that its model—which has so far been concentrated in the German-speaking region—can also be scaled beyond the DACH region.

In this regard, small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in particular could provide a point of differentiation. While large corporations can develop their own loyalty infrastructures or deploy extensive enterprise systems, small and medium-sized businesses need solutions that can be implemented and operated relatively quickly.

The greatest leverage may lie in the network

The investment in the double-digit millions initially provides hello again with the financial resources for the next phase of expansion. In the long term, however, it will likely be more crucial whether the company can move beyond its current SaaS model.

More than 1,000 corporate customers and 18 million active app users provide an interesting starting point for this. If hello again succeeds in connecting these previously separate loyalty worlds through partner benefits, it could increasingly evolve from a software provider into a platform.

This is precisely where the greater strategic leverage of EMERAM’s investment could lie. AI can make communication within individual customer programs more efficient and personalized. A growing partner network, on the other hand, could transform the business model itself.

The next phase of growth will therefore be driven by two questions. Can hello again successfully replicate its DACH model in other European markets? And second, will it succeed in actually developing a unified loyalty network out of more than 1,000 individual customer programs?