SaaS company Voyado today announced the acquisition of Swedish-founded WasHere, a fast-growing platform for digital membership cards in Apple and Google Wallet. The acquisition is a strategic move that strengthens Voyado’s overall offering within omnichannel customer experience and loyalty for retailers.
Founded in 2023, WasHere has quickly established itself as a leading player in digital membership cards across the Nordics. The platform is used by retailers such as XXL, Gant, ZOO.se, Gina Tricot, and Granit. The company was founded by Oliver Alkesten, Carl Nordling, Jacob Klerfelt, and Niclas Blomqvist.
The solution improves customer identification at checkout, makes loyalty more visible through points and offers directly in the mobile wallet, and opens up a push communication channel in Apple and Google Wallet that complements email and SMS. Many retailers still identify fewer than a third of in-store shoppers, making in-store identification one of the biggest remaining gaps in omnichannel customer experience. This is a rapidly evolving area, where Voyado sees significant potential to continue building and expanding its capabilities.
“In-store identification has long been a challenge for many retailers. As customer experiences become increasingly AI-driven, access to high-quality first-party data becomes absolutely critical — it’s the foundation that enables personalisation. Wallet solutions make it possible to truly connect more customer journeys, strengthening both our broader product offering and our customers’ results,” said Erica Sandelin Ekelund, CEO of Voyado.
As part of the acquisition, WasHere will become part of Voyado’s product portfolio. Together, the companies will enable retailers to identify more customers, improve data quality, and increase the impact of their omnichannel strategies. The functionality will be available to Voyado customers immediately.
“Digital membership cards have quickly become a natural way for retailers to strengthen their loyalty programs, and demand continues to grow. Our solution is at its strongest when it’s closely integrated with a loyalty system. Together with Voyado, we can scale faster and continue developing the technology as the market matures. This is just the beginning,” said Niclas Blomqvist, CEO and co-founder of WasHere.
The pace of development in this space is accelerating. Payment providers are introducing new identity capabilities and rolling out support for Apple and Google’s VAS (Value Added Services) protocols, enabling future ‘tap-and-go’ flows where payment and identification happen in a single step — a development Voyado sees as a natural next phase in retail.
“What makes WasHere particularly interesting to us is the strength of the offering, the technology, and a team with deep expertise. This acquisition allows us to take a clear position in an area that’s evolving incredibly fast. The timing is exactly right, and we already see how this will unlock entirely new opportunities for our customers in the years ahead,” concluded Johan Bäckarlin, founder of Voyado.
