The Spring

What The Spring does

The Spring was a consumer fintech startup founded by Brent Schulkin in 2013 and headquartered in Mountain View, California, that operated a mobile application for card-linked cause marketing between restaurant diners, restaurants, and local community projects. Users downloaded the app, linked a payment card, and automatically triggered donations from participating restaurants to community causes when they dined, while also receiving cash back rewards on their spending. The platform's positioning was that consumers could "save the world without doing anything extra" simply by paying at partner restaurants with their linked card.

The core technology was a card-linked integration with merchant banks, built in partnership with First Data, that connected user payment cards to participating restaurant point-of-sale systems and routed transaction-based donations and cash back without requiring any behavioral change from users. Named restaurant partners included Dosa, Gracias Madre, and American Grilled Cheese Kitchen, all SMB food-and-beverage operators. The product was structured as a three-sided ecosystem serving diners seeking effortless social impact, restaurants seeking customer acquisition and cause-marketing differentiation, and community projects receiving earmarked funding.

The Spring's revenue model relied on transaction-based fees funded by restaurant margins, with restaurants donating a portion of spend to community projects and users receiving cash back. The company was privately held with no disclosed institutional funding and operated with 11-50 employees. Despite positive user reception noted in TechCrunch coverage, founder Brent Schulkin concluded in 2014 that restaurant margins were too thin to sustain the model long-term, and the company was shut down roughly a year after launch.

Name

The Spring

Legal name

The Spring

Website

https://jointhespring.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Closed

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Spring was a 2013 Mountain View-based mobile app that linked users' payment cards to partner restaurants, automatically routing a portion of dining spend to community projects and awarding cash back; the company ceased operations in 2014.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Mobile Cause Marketing Platform

akta.pro primary industry

Price Comparison, Deals, Cashback & Loyalty Shopping Platforms (BPAMAGAH)

Keywords

• Card-linked marketing
• Cause marketing
• Cash back rewards
• Community donations
• Restaurant payments

Headquarters

HQ city

Mountain View

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Transaction-based charitable giving: Restaurants donated to community projects when users paid with linked cards at participating establishments. The model relied on restaurant margins to fund donations and cash back rewards.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels1 record

Core offering

The Spring operated a mobile application that allowed consumers to link their payment cards, dine at participating restaurants, and automatically earn cash back rewards while those restaurants donated a portion of spending to local community projects. The platform integrated with merchant bank systems (via First Data) to enable seamless, behavior-based cause marketing without requiring any additional action from the diner.

Product overview

The Spring was a single mobile app offering that connected users' payment cards to participating restaurants, enabling automatic cash back rewards while restaurants donated a portion of spending to local community projects chosen by users.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• The Spring App A mobile application for individual consumers (diners) that linked their payment cards to participating restaurants via First Data merchant bank integration, automatically routing a portion of dining spend to local community projects while users earned cash back rewards with no change in behavior.

Named customers3 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• First DatacoreTechnology or IntegrationFirst Data provided merchant bank integration services for The Spring app, enabling seamless payment processing and transaction tracking between users' payment cards and participating restaurants.
• DosaminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorRestaurant partner that participated in The Spring's cause marketing program, donating to local community projects when customers paid with linked payment cards.
• Gracias MadreminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorRestaurant partner that participated in The Spring's cause marketing program, donating to local community projects when customers paid with linked payment cards.
• American Grilled Cheese KitchenminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorRestaurant partner that participated in The Spring's cause marketing program, donating to local community projects when customers paid with linked payment cards.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights2 records

Direct peers

• Fetch Rewards: Receipt-scanning rewards app that converts consumer purchases into cash back and brand-funded rewards — comparable merchant-funded consumer cash back model in the food/beverage category.
• Swagbucks: Rewards platform offering cash back for shopping and other consumer activities, funded by advertiser and merchant commissions — structurally similar merchant-funded consumer rewards business.
• Rakuten: Cash back shopping platform that returns a percentage of purchases to consumers funded by merchant commissions — comparable transaction-based, merchant-funded rewards model, though primarily online.
• Cardlytics: Card-linked cash back and advertising platform that partners with banks to deliver merchant-funded offers to consumers based on their actual purchase behavior — the same core architecture The Spring attempted, but with bank/issuer funding instead of restaurant margins.
• Ibotta: Receipt-based and offer-based cash back app heavily used in grocery and restaurant categories — directly comparable consumer cash back platform operating in food/dining, the same vertical The Spring targeted.
• Honey: Cash back and coupon platform acquired by PayPal — comparable consumer rewards platform monetizing merchant-funded offers, with similar technology and target user base of value-conscious shoppers.
• Drop (PayPal): Loyalty/rewards app that links users' payment cards to deliver automatic cash back at participating merchants — same card-linking tech, consumer-cash-back value proposition, and merchant-funded reward structure.
• Dosh: Card-linked cash back app that automatically rewards users when they shop at participating merchants, with merchants funding the rewards — directly comparable to The Spring's automated cash-back model at point-of-sale.

Broad incumbents

• Groupon: Deals and local offers marketplace with deep restaurant merchant relationships and consumer-facing discount/cash-back mechanics — a broader incumbent in merchant-funded local consumer offers.
• Yelp: Restaurant discovery and reviews platform that has operated restaurant-related cash back and offer programs (e.g., Yelp Deals) — a broader incumbent that intersects with restaurant marketing and consumer dining behavior.

Market position

Strengths2 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/schulkin
• Xx.com/jointhespring
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/the-spring

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The Spring