Heymax.ai raises USD $2.6 million to fuel APAC market expansion

Singapore-founded loyalty platform Heymax.ai has revealed it has secured USD $2.6 million (SGD $3.5 million) in a seed funding round. The round was led by January Capital and attracted participation from Tenity, Ascend Angels, XA Network, and other strategic investors. This injection of funds will enable Heymax.ai to bolster its business growth and expand its operations to other markets within the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.

Heymax.ai, established in 2023 by four former Meta engineers, provides a personal finance and shopping platform allowing customers to gather Max Miles through over 500 businesses. These miles can be redeemed for flights or transferred at a 1:1 ratio to loyalty programs of 25 airlines and hotels. Since its launch in September 2023, Heymax.ai has seen over 50,000 users accumulate over 50 million Max Miles, with more than 10,000 flights redeemed.

Joe Lu, CEO and Co-founder of Heymax.ai, said, “Consumers looking to optimise their rewards are struggling to find the right platform, leading to missed opportunities for valuable rewards and wasted effort on frustrating programs that don’t fit spending habits. Heymax.ai’s rewards ecosystem helps address these challenges, allowing consumers to unlock more loyalty rewards through earning Max Miles from their everyday purchases. We’re committed to helping our customers earn one free vacation every year."

The funding secured from January Capital reflects a shared vision and a commitment to advancing digital commerce within the APAC region. Roy Ong, an investor from January Capital, noted, “Many rewards programs we know and love are locked within the closed ecosystem of a single company. This hyper-fragmentation only serves to drive up the cost of customer acquisition for merchants and increases the mental load on consumers who are seeking to optimise their spending power."

"The team at Heymax.ai has a clear desire to break the mould and solve these challenges for both merchants and customers. Combined with the founding team’s experience in large technology companies, we knew from the beginning that they would be able to execute this vision with great finesse,” he detailed.

The company aims to streamline the process of maximising merchant and credit card rewards for consumers. Users can easily link their existing credit cards to the Heymax.ai platform, which then provides instant recommendations for the credit card that offers the most rewards for a given purchase.

In an inflationary environment, people are more cautious with spending and seek ways to extend their purchasing power. Heymax.ai’s open-loop loyalty program aims to address these concerns by enabling seamless interoperability across various loyalty schemes.

The Heymax.ai platform gives access to over 500 major merchants, including Amazon.sg, Apple, Grab, NTUC Fairprice, and Shopee. Customers can earn rewards in the form of Max Miles. These miles can be redeemed for any flight or transferred to partner rewards programs without fees or expiry dates, providing flexibility for consumers.

Additionally, Heymax.ai recently partnered with Visa to launch Card Maximiser. This collaboration helps consumers track spending across all Visa-branded cards, providing comprehensive and real-time insights into card transactions and rewards accrual.

In recent developments, Heymax.ai has also brought on Aik-Phong Ng, the former Managing Director of Shopback and Fave, as Chief Commercial Officer to drive the company’s partnership expansion and accelerate the adoption of Max Miles.

Following a successful start in Singapore, the company expanded to Australia in November 2023 and plans further growth within APAC markets. Joe Lu shared, “I’m extremely excited about the future when customers all over the world can easily maximise their rewards and get 1 million free trips from Heymax.ai every year to build treasured memories. To achieve that, we are firing on all cylinders to bring more partners on board to reward customers with Max Miles."

Recent investments from a range of angel investors support the company's growth ambitions. These efforts form part of Heymax.ai's strategy to establish itself firmly in the loyalty program landscape and grow its customer base across the APAC region.