Ameer Jumabhoy, Co-Founder of utu

Today, we're meeting Ameer Jumabhoy, Co-Founder of utu, the travel tech company redefining tax-free shopping for tourists.

Let's get started - over to you Ameer. My questions are in bold:

Who are you and what's your background?

I’m Ameer Jumabhoy, Co-Founder of utu, a Singapore based travel tech company redefining the possibilities of the tourist retail experience by revolutionising tax-free shopping. My role involves leading business development and commercial operations, as well as driving innovation to support utu’s ambitious growth plans. I also oversee the overall strategy for the business in partnership with my Co-founder.

Before co-founding utu in 2016, I worked at McKinsey & Company and later played a key role in strategy development at The Scotts Group, an investment company. I also co-founded my first startup, Univisor, a platform connecting prospective college students with current students and alumni for admission guidance. I hold an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management and a BA in Political Science and Government from Rice University.

What is your job title and what are your general responsibilities?

My job title is Co-Founder and I head up commercial operations at utu. In this role, I’m responsible for leading the company’s strategic initiatives and overseeing our operational activities. I focus on driving growth, fostering innovation, and ensuring efficient processes across the organisation.

A key part of my role involves establishing and nurturing utu’s partnerships, such as our current collaboration with Avolta, the world’s largest airport retailer. Other partners include retail merchants, retail management companies, airlines, duty-free players and all those involved in the duty-free and tax-free shopping ecosystem.

On a daily basis, I handle everything from marketing and business development to refining our growth strategy.

Can you give us an overview of your business?

My Co-founder, Asad Jumabhoy (we're a father-son duo) is a pioneer of the VAT refund sector and played a pivotal role in building @Global Blue and Planet - the two companies that lead the industry today and enable retailers to offer tax free shopping. During his 15 years at Global Blue, the company expanded to 45 countries and achieved a market share of more than 75%.

Our business, utu, leverages this extensive experience in the duty-free, tax-free, and rewards sectors to optimise the tourist shopping journey and to extract additional value for both shoppers and retailers alike.

The business has evolved from a loyalty programme, into an industry value-adder. We offer an innovative system which complements the traditional VAT refund process, allowing travellers to receive rewards such as duty-free vouchers instead of just standard cash refunds. These rewards can be used immediately at partner retailers, boosting tourism spending and enhancing the travel retail experience.

Our technology addresses the billions of Euros in VAT refund value leaving airports by allowing tourists to transform those VAT refunds into valuable rewards redeemable at duty-free shops and other travel retail locations. This model drives sales for retailers, helps countries retain tourism revenue, and elevates the overall shopping experience for travellers.

Our strategy revolves around two objectives. First, we’re harnessing the untapped potential within the tax-free shopping industry by providing tourists with added value from their VAT refunds abroad. Secondly, we’re bridging the gap between city-side tax-free shopping and duty-free, which have traditionally operated in isolation. By integrating duty-free into the wider tourist shopping experience, we make it an essential part of the traveller's journey.

We’re currently running a groundbreaking pilot programme with Avolta, the world's biggest airport retailer, to maximise Duty-Free shopping opportunities at Milan's Malpensa Airport. The programme offers travellers 25% more spending power by converting VAT refunds into duty-free vouchers redeemable in Milan airports. Early results are already demonstrating significant growth in airside Duty-free revenue for Avolta’s Milan duty-free operations and we're excited about the potential to scale this model across Avolta's global network and the broader industry.

Tell us how you are funded?

We’re VC funded. Last year, we raised a $33 million Series B from investors, including SC Ventures.

What’s the origin story? Why did you start the company? To solve what problems?

Our motivation for starting utu was simpler than you might think: tax-free shopping should benefit everyone involved. The principle of VAT refunding means that VAT value, by nature, leaves stores and country borders. We saw an opportunity to use an innovative business model to keep that significant value within the borders of the country rather than being taken home by tourists. This helps local retailers boost sales and, for governments, release significant consumer surplus, which contributes to the country's tourism multiplier.

Digital tools, enabled by fintech and deployed correctly, can benefit both shoppers and retailers. Our voucher-based reward mechanic incentivises travellers to claim their refunds rather than missing out on the additional value or simply taking their cash refund out of the country. Vouchers would direct those refunds back towards shops in the process, giving the local economy a boost at the same time, and bridging the gap between airside and cityside retail in the process.

Who are your target customers? What’s your revenue model?

Anyone who likes to do a bit of tax-free shopping while abroad is a potential customer. To enable tax-free shoppers to benefit from our solution, we partner with duty-free operators like Avolta in Milan. We believe this model will serve as a blueprint for other airports and retailers worldwide and will help to drive multi-billion dollar growth for the industry. Our revenue model is performance-based - if our technology helps the retailer sell an additional item by recycling VAT refund value, leaving the store, we make our fees.

If you had a magic wand, what one thing would you change in the banking and/or FinTech sector?

If I had a magic wand, I’d shift the mindset around funding niche markets like ours. There’s a prevailing notion that every venture needs to be a unicorn to justify investment, which is a narrow view. The reality is that there are numerous niche markets with significant potential to create strong, cash-generating businesses that don’t necessarily need to scale to unicorn status. Investment should be about taking smart risks, and backing innovative business models even within smaller markets can yield impressive returns. A broader funding approach would drive more diversity and creativity across the industry.

Where do you get your Financial Services/FinTech industry news from?

I always appreciate the newsletters on LinkedIn, and I follow both Miguel Armaza’s interview series over at Fintech Leaders and Michael Jackson’s Another Amazing Week, where he recaps all his posts. He’s an essential thinker in European tech. I also like the Financial Times as I find their news fairly balanced.

Can you list 3 people you rate from the FinTech and/or Financial Services sector that we should be following on LinkedIn, and why?

• I’m a fan of the venture capitalist Michael Jackson who has done so much for deeptech and entrepreneurship in Europe in particular.
• I like Chris Skinner who sets a broad tone on the future of finance.
• In addition, Spiros Margaris who seems to have the midas touch in pinpointing disruptive technology trends.

What FinTech services (and/or apps) do you personally use?

I, like many readers, use Revolut - I think they have redefined the user experience when it comes to neobanking. For stocks and investments, I like moomoo -moo - they have gamified the often mundane activity of buying and selling stocks.

What’s the best new FinTech product or service you’ve seen recently?

Probably embedded finance functionality in larger ecosystem apps. Shopify has been able to integrate this to help their merchant base get access to credit - this is going to be significantly disruptive to SME banking if various players can achieve this at scale.

Finally, let's talk predictions. What trends do you think are going to define the next few years in the FinTech sector?

In a period when liquidity was readily available, we saw significant challenges addressed head-on with companies like Uber and Airbnb transforming transportation and accommodation.

However, as liquidity tightens, it’s unlikely new entrants will disrupt established players to the same extent. The fascination with creating unicorns may wane, with a renewed focus on businesses with robust cash flow.

Not all businesses need to reach a billion-dollar valuation.

There are substantial and valuable industries that require deep expertise to unlock their full potential. Going forward, niche-busting and creating value in these specialised industries will be key as the cost of capital rises.

Thank you so much for taking the time to participate Ameer!

You can find out more about Ameer Jumabhoy on LinkedIn and read more about his company utu at https://utu.global/.