My favorite model, Bar Refaeli, caused a lot of buzz with the recent launch of Mycheck, an Israeli based payment app for iOS, Android and Blackberry smartphones. This is a brilliant move by Refaeli, an attempt to leverage her status as an international super-model in order to get involved with start ups.
Mycheck enables you to pay your restaurant bill and leave without having to wait. The idea resembles the great business model of corporate restaurant cards. Israeli based 10Bis and Cibus, for example, issue companies ‘charge cards’ that are given to employees who can use them at participating restaurants. Both companies are doing great locally.
High-tech companies can give incentive to employee’s dining expenses and employees benefit from ‘free’ lunches at multiple locations. Corporate restaurant card companies charge 8%-10%, much more than a regular credit card from the business, but businesses are somewhat obligated to participate, especially those who cater to hi-tech areas, otherwise employees simply won’t go there. Furthermore, restaurant card companies aren’t considered a payment provider or credit card company so they are more flexible with businesses. It really is a win-win-win product. The IT workforce in the USA, a market of 5-10M, and an average of $10 lunch for 200 days is not bad at all; with 5% charges, 1M users a year and an average $2000 spent this could become a $100M revenue business. Implementing this business using an app instead of cards is simply a modern way to do it.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDLqLyWFSpo]
The biggest hurdle will be getting businesses and users to accept this new payment system. There are many tactics to get mass markets (1M+) to use this, focusing on either B2B or B2C. Bar can probably help a lot with B2C, for example a free photo book available exclusively in-app.
This is a brilliant move by Bar because she is leveraging her buzz across different industries. I am almost certain my post will get more clicks because of her name (and attached picture), and the same is true for the companies she works with. The 5-10 startups she will be involved with will have a have higher chances of success, similarly to Ashton Kutcher’s recent investments.
Finally, in case this post gets to Bar, it’s been a long time since you attended my pool parties when we were 16. Since eToro is the leading social investment network in the world, and we are both passionate about startups, technology and finance, I would love to see how we could get involved, professionally. You would look great with an eToro designed dress 🙂
