Pureprofile to pay survey participants in Acorns

Consumer-to-brands technologist Pureprofile (ASX: PPL) will help its customers build wealth acorn by acorn after signing a partnership with the company behind investment app Acorns.

From today, Pureprofile’s Australian customers can choose to be paid in Acorns when completing surveys.

Later this year, Acorns Australia’s fast-growing 240,000-strong user base will be given the opportunity to sign up to Pureprofile and also convert the cash they earn from answering questions and completing surveys into Acorns for their investment accounts.

Acorns users can already build their investment accounts using spare change from everyday purchases, which they can use to snap up shares.

The new Acorns Australia deal will help allow Pureprofile and its 700-plus client brands to access the millennials market and in turn allow the two companies’ investment-savvy customers to monetise their personal profiles.

Pureprofile chief executive officer Nic Jones said the deal would connect consumers and brands, and allow consumers to realise the value of their own data.

“In today’s marketplace, the power is increasingly shifting from brands to the consumer. In order for brands to engage and retain customers, reliable data is more and more critical,” he said.

“Data becomes the new currency, and consumers are leveraging this to their advantage in a Me2B (me-to-business) marketplace, also known as the personal information economy. We’re excited to announce our partnership with Acorns to enable more consumers to realise the full potential of their own data – all the while connecting brands with new potential customers who are actually interested in hearing from them.”

Acorns Australia founder and chief executive George Lucas said the micro-investment company was also excited by the partnership.

“We are excited to partner with Pureprofile and give our members the option to invest their rewards back into their Acorns account and also be given the opportunity to assist in providing valuable insights into mobile segment-based transactions,” he said.

Mr Lucas said the ability for Acorns users to voluntarily opt into the Pureprofile service was an important part of the deal.

“The opt-in mechanism is important to us to ensure users have complete control over their data profiles,” he said.

The award-winning company is planning on launching a superannuation product later this year, having reached over $100 million in funds under management by the end of 2017.

Pureprofile securities were unchanged at 11c by late afternoon.