Enigmatic Smile Acquires Majority Stake in Spaycial to Expand European Reach and Deliver Cutting-Edge Loyalty Solutions Using Open Banking Transaction Data
—----------------------
Paris, France – Enigmatic Smile (ES), delivers Critical Payment-Linked-Reward Programme Infrastructure on a Planetary Scale ®
Today it announces that it has acquired a controlling stake in Spaycial for an undisclosed sum. This strategic acquisition allows Enigmatic Smile to harness Spaycial’s European Account Information Service Provider (AISP) license and open banking expertise to enhance its already extensive payment-card-linking offerings.
Once Spaycial technology is integrated, ES will launch the industry’s first unified payment card and open banking API, providing a holistic payment transaction matching capability to reward programmes around the world. This API will finally provide the comprehensive, consistent and reliable transaction matching layer that retailers, reward programmes and shopping centers around the world have been dreaming of.
Spaycial technology lets consumers link their bank account directly to their favourite loyalty program, creating a seamless experience where they’re recognized at checkout without needing a loyalty card or QR code. Customers can collect rewards on every purchase across multiple brands and redeem them instantly in connected retailers. The solution requires no additional hardware or POS integration, making it quick and cost-effective to deploy – ideal for multi-brand locations like shopping centers, downtown areas, airports, and large retail chains.
Since its founding, Spaycial has focused on loyalty solutions for the mall industry, with its technology deployed in over 60 shopping centers. This deep expertise positions Spaycial as an ideal partner in enabling shopping centers to gain unparalleled consumer insights through data-driven loyalty experiences. The collaboration with Enigmatic Smile, which has already brought together a burgeoning international ecosystem of partners including Lux Rewards, Fidel API, The Reward Collection, Olive, Loyalty Key, Pockitpal, ESI and CBP, will allow shopping centers globally to access pre-negotiated offers with thousands of leading global brands and retailers. Through these partnerships, Spaycial increases its ability to deliver highly personalized and relevant offers to consumers, enhancing engagement and driving long-term loyalty.
Supported by Spaycial’s AISP license under the European Union’s PSD2 (Payment Services Directive 2), this acquisition underscores a shared commitment to secure and compliant data management. The license mandates strict data privacy standards, and with biannual cybersecurity audits, Spaycial’s solutions offer a secure foundation for advanced loyalty programs.
“At Enigmatic Smile, we are committed to decentralizing and defragmenting the broken payment linked rewards industry internationally,” said Bish Smeir, CEO of Enigmatic Smile. “By integrating Spaycial’s open banking knowledge with our proven card-linking APIs, we are creating the first truly comprehensive API for complete transaction matching data worldwide. This groundbreaking approach allows us to provide reward programmes with seamless, data-driven loyalty solutions that strengthen brand-consumer relationships.”
Didier Gasté, CEO of Spaycial, added: “Joining forces with Enigmatic Smile amplifies our potential to expand globally. The ecosystem of partner companies that ES is bringing together, already power a vast network of retailer offers for 110 reward programmes internationally. With this deal we can now deliver a unique, data-powered loyalty experience tailored for shopping centers worldwide. Our combined expertise will help Shopping centres create value by transforming their footfall into a qualified audience and unlocking new monetization opportunities through the unique potential of our retail media platform.”
An added benefit of this deal is the opportunity to use VOW®, a unique reward currency layer secured by blockchain technology within shopping centers. This technology introduces a flexible, innovative rewards approach, ideally suited to mall loyalty programs that seek modern, multi-merchant, circular economy loyalty solutions. This perfect use case for VOW will allow retailers to engage consumers in a unique, versatile manner, fostering deeper loyalty across markets while reducing the cost of cashback rewards by up to 80%.
With the acquisition of Spaycial, Enigmatic Smile reaffirms its leadership in the global loyalty industry, positioning shopping centers as hubs of data-driven, personalized engagement that deliver value to both consumers and retail brands.