Fintech innovation going off the rails
I didn't think I'd see the latest in innovative fintech-enabled pricing from Amtrak of all places with the BidUp feature?! In behavioral economics, the "endowment effect" falsely makes it seem like you own something when top bidder, so if outbid, you end up overbidding to avoid losing it.
Smart use here.
It turns out BidUp is powered by Plusgrade which dominates this space and calls what it does “ancillary revenue products your customers will love”
A) Canada based not US (not bad, eh?)
B) PE-backed not VC
C) has 500+ FTEs, spans 60 countries, generated $5bn in revenue opportunities
D) has 200+ clients with big names like Air Canada, Chase, Hilton
F) has many products you probably have experienced
And yet I've never heard of them before.
And from my quick deep dive, it seems like they can do this purely as a financial technology company (aka fintech SaaS) without messy payment processing or underwriting.
Special shout-out to their SeatBlocker feature, which seems straight out of Soren Iverson’s unhinged designs.
