UAE-based Web3 rewards startup, Bundle, has emerged from stealth with $5.5 million in pre-Seed funding as it seeks to transform how businesses attract, engage and retain customers through shared reward pools.
Founded by Bader Al Kalooti and Mostafa Wanas, Bundle is developing a blockchain-powered platform that allows brands to combine portions of their incentive budgets and offer customers significantly larger rewards than individual businesses could afford.
The startup said its pilot across five markets distributed $100,000 to more than 1,100 winners, including a $50,000 grand prize, while participating brands recorded conversion rates of up to four times those achieved through traditional incentive campaigns.
Backed by prominent investors including Ethereal Ventures and Further Ventures, Bundle plans to launch initially in Singapore, Vietnam and the Philippines with more than 50 founding brands.
What is Bundle and What Does It Do?
Bundle is a UAE-based rewards technology startup seeking to change the conventional approach businesses use to acquire and retain customers.
Rather than relying heavily on discounts, cashback and small promotional incentives, the company operates a networked rewards platform that allows participating brands to combine their incentive budgets into shared reward pools.
The model is designed to give customers access to substantially larger prizes while enabling businesses, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises, to benefit from the marketing appeal of rewards that would otherwise be beyond their individual budgets.
Bundle said its platform responds to a growing problem in customer acquisition, where companies are spending more to attract customers while traditional incentives are becoming less effective.
“Bundle was built to level that playing field,” co-founder and CEO Bader Al Kalooti said, arguing that businesses of every size should be able to offer rewards that genuinely excite customers rather than continuously competing through discounts.
Bundle’s Shared Rewards Model to Replace Traditional Discounting
At the heart of Bundle’s proposition is a shared rewards model designed to make promotional spending more effective.
Instead of a company allocating its entire incentive budget to individual discounts or cashback offers, several participating businesses can contribute to a common reward pool. This creates a larger prize fund capable of attracting customer attention across the participating network.
Customers can earn Bundle tickets through everyday interactions, including purchases, referrals and other eligible activities, giving them opportunities to participate in shared reward campaigns.
For businesses, the approach is intended to create stronger engagement without requiring each company to independently finance large prizes.
The concept is particularly relevant to smaller businesses that may struggle to compete with the marketing budgets of large corporations.
Bundle believes pooling resources can effectively increase the impact of each participating company’s promotional expenditure while reducing the need for margin-eroding discounts.
In essence, the startup is attempting to turn fragmented marketing budgets into a collective customer-acquisition engine.
Blockchain Powers Bundle’s Global Rewards Infrastructure
Although Bundle is built around blockchain technology, the company intends for customers to experience the platform much like a conventional rewards service. Blockchain operates largely behind the scenes, providing the infrastructure for distributing rewards across borders.
The company uses stablecoins as part of its payment infrastructure, allowing rewards to be transferred internationally while enabling users to withdraw through licensed payment service providers.
Bundle describes this as a practical consumer application of Web3 technology because customers can benefit from blockchain-enabled payments without necessarily having to understand cryptocurrency wallets, blockchain networks or other technical processes.
The startup said the approach allows brands and consumers to retain a familiar Web2 experience while taking advantage of modern blockchain payment infrastructure.
According to the company, this can support “low-cost global payouts and seamless withdrawals via licensed PSPs without any complexity.”
The model also allows Bundle to manage much of the underlying rewards infrastructure and regulatory requirements for brands operating promotional campaigns across multiple markets.
Pilot Records $100k in Rewards and Up to Fourfold Conversion Uplift
Bundle’s proposition has already undergone an initial pilot across five markets, where the startup says five participating companies distributed more than $100,000 in rewards to over 1,100 winners.
The campaign included a $50,000 grand prize, demonstrating the type of high-value incentive Bundle believes can generate stronger consumer attention than conventional discounts.
More significantly, participating brands reportedly recorded conversion rates of up to four times those achieved through traditional incentive campaigns.
While the company has not disclosed the detailed methodology or baseline figures behind the reported uplift, the results form an important part of its argument that shared rewards can deliver stronger marketing performance.
Bundle’s objective is not simply to give consumers larger prizes but to demonstrate that those prizes can generate measurable commercial value for brands.
If the reported results can be consistently replicated at larger scale and across different sectors, the model could offer businesses an alternative approach to customer acquisition and engagement, particularly in markets where consumers are increasingly resistant to conventional promotional offers.
Bundle’s Future Expansion Plans
Following its pilot, Bundle plans to begin its commercial expansion in Singapore, Vietnam and the Philippines, where the startup says more than 50 founding brands have already joined the platform.
The selection of these markets provides Bundle with an initial base from which to test its networked rewards model across multiple consumer and business environments before expanding further internationally.
Its cross-border architecture is particularly relevant to this strategy because the company wants rewards to operate across markets without forcing brands to build separate promotional infrastructure for each country.
Bundle’s compliance-based operating model is intended to help it navigate the regulatory and operational complexities associated with running rewards campaigns across jurisdictions.
The company is positioning this expansion as the beginning of a broader international rollout rather than a limited regional initiative.
Its long-term ambition is to build a global rewards network in which more brands and consumers increase the size and attractiveness of shared reward pools, potentially creating a self-reinforcing ecosystem for customer acquisition and retention.
Why the Funding Matters to Expansion Plans
The expansion plans are being supported by a newly completed $5.5 million pre-Seed financing round led by Ethereal Ventures and Further Ventures, with participation from Nascent, GSR, Scenius Capital, Anchorage Digital and Nuwa Capital.
The investment provides Bundle with capital to accelerate product development, expand into additional markets and pursue strategic partnerships.
Investors have also highlighted the potential of the startup’s approach to make blockchain technology more relevant to mainstream consumers by embedding it within familiar commercial experiences.
Min Teo, Managing Partner at Ethereal Ventures, described Bundle as an example of the “next wave of blockchain businesses” that can drive mainstream adoption by “solving real problems.”
Further Ventures Partner Robbie Nakarmi similarly said Bundle gives brands of different sizes access to larger rewards “at a fraction of the cost,” potentially creating a more effective way to engage customers.
For Bundle, the funding marks the transition from a tested concept to a broader expansion phase as it attempts to establish shared rewards as a new customer-acquisition model.
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