What LoyalFree does

LoyalFree is recorded in the firmographic data as a mobile phone application based in Leicester, United Kingdom, founded in 2016, privately held, with 1–10 employees and a registered domain at loyalfree.co.uk. Substantive operational data aggregated alongside this profile is not internally consistent with a 1–10 employee mobile app and instead describes a materially larger place management SaaS operation (referenced in the underlying sources under the Vicinity brand), so any investor reading should treat LoyalFree and the Vicinity-detailed data as distinct signals until corporate-structure evidence is produced.

The detailed operational record describes a place management platform serving Business Improvement Districts (BIDs), Canadian Business Improvement Areas (BIAs), UK local authorities, and Destination Management Organisations (DMOs) across the United Kingdom and Canada. The platform is structured as a three-product stack: Vicinity CRM (a place intelligence platform for managing business data, recording activity, and reporting results for placemaking organisations), Branded Place Apps (custom-branded mobile applications engaging residents, visitors and workers with local businesses, events and offers), and Lili (the "Library of Local Intelligence" — an AI platform that unifies local data and surfaces insights for place management decisions). Technology is delivered as cloud-based SaaS with per-place configuration, supported by dedicated data engineers, place professionals and marketers. Scale signals include 120+ placemaking organisations served, 63,000+ businesses recorded or promoted, 51,000+ businesses in the system, 1M+ app user interactions, 36,000+ hours saved importing data, £1M+ in missing levy identified, and £6bn+ in rateable value tracked.

The go-to-market is enterprise field sales targeting UK and Canadian public-sector and quasi-public organisations: BIDs, BIAs, councils, DMOs and (secondarily) property owners and estates. Revenue is generated via recurring SaaS subscriptions sold on a quote-based, "Book a Demo" model with no publicly disclosed pricing. Distribution leverages channel partnerships with provincial BIA associations (OBIAA in Ontario, BIABC in British Columbia) for North American expansion and industry-body relationships (ATCM, British BIDs) in the UK, with content marketing (Data Britain, Place Data Pledge, Vicinity and Beyond podcast, monthly newsletter to 1,000+ placemakers) used to generate top-of-funnel demand.

Name

LoyalFree

Legal name

Vicinity

Website

https://loyalfree.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

LoyalFree is recorded in firmographic data as a small UK mobile phone app founded in 2016 in Leicester. Substantive operational data aggregated with this profile describes a place management SaaS platform serving Business Improvement Districts, councils, and Destination Management Organisations across the UK and Canada via CRM, branded mobile apps, and an AI-driven local intelligence engine.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Leicester

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. SaaS Subscriptions: Recurring subscription revenue from CRM platform, branded apps, and AI platform (Lili) sold to BIDs, local authorities, and DMOs on a per-place or tiered basis.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

LoyalFree operates a place management platform consisting of three integrated products: a CRM system, custom-branded mobile applications, and an AI-powered data platform called Lili (Library of Local Intelligence). The platform helps Business Improvement Districts, local councils, and destination organizations manage fragmented local business data, engage residents and visitors, and report economic impact across UK and Canadian markets.

Product overview

Vicinity is a place management platform that operates as a unified platform-plus-modules architecture. The core platform consists of three integrated products: Vicinity CRM (for managing business data, recording activity, and reporting results), Branded Apps (custom mobile applications for community engagement), and Lili AI Platform (The Library of Local Intelligence for unifying data and revealing insights). These products work together to help placemakers turn local knowledge into powerful intelligence, enabling better decisions, stronger engagement, and measurable impact for Business Improvement Districts, councils, and destination organisations across the UK and Canada.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Vicinity CRM Place intelligence platform that enables placemakers to manage business data, record activity, and report results. Designed for Business Improvement Districts, councils, and destination organisations to track rateable value and identify missing levy revenue.
• Branded Place Apps Custom-branded mobile applications for places that engage residents, visitors, and workers with local businesses, events, offers, and trails. Deployed by BIDs, councils, and DMOs for community engagement.
• Lili (AI Platform) The Library of Local Intelligence - an AI platform that unifies data from multiple sources and reveals new insights for place management decision-making. Powers knowledge retrieval across the placemaking domain.

Quantifiable outcome

• 36,000+ hours saved importing data
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability1 record

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• ATCM (Association of Town and City Management)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerProfessional association for place management professionals. Vicinity is listed as a working partner, indicating collaboration on industry standards and best practices.
• British BIDscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational body representing Business Improvement Districts in the UK. Partnership supports BID-specific product development and market access.
• STP (Sustainable Transport Panel)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership announced for sustainable transport initiatives integrated with place management.
• MiconexminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership focused on local economic development and improvement initiatives.
• Innovate UKcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerUK government innovation agency. Partnership indicates government-backed research and development support.
• OBIAA (Ontario BIA Association)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorOntario's provincial BIA association. Key channel partner for Vicinity's expansion into Canadian BIAs, facilitating market access across Canadian communities.
• BIABC (Business Improvement Area British Columbia)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorBIA association for British Columbia. Strategic channel partner enabling Vicinity's reach into BC's BIA market.
• High Streets PositiveminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFounding member of High Streets Positive initiative supporting UK high street revitalisation.
• University of WarwickminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic partnership for research and development in place management and local economic intelligence.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• CitizenLab: CitizenLab is a civic engagement platform used by local governments to run community consultations, idea collection, and participatory budgeting. It addresses the same local-authority buyer Vicinity targets (councils seeking engagement and impact-reporting tools) and competes for the same digital-democracy budgets.
• PlaceOS: PlaceOS is a workplace and place experience platform that combines tenant experience apps, space booking, and analytics for commercial buildings and precincts. It is comparable to Vicinity as a vertically-oriented place-management SaaS with branded apps and a CRM/engagement layer, although it skews toward commercial real estate rather than BID/DMO customers.
• Local Measure: Local Measure provides customer engagement, voice-of-customer and location analytics for tourism boards, DMOs, and retail destinations. It overlaps directly with Vicinity on the DMO segment and on branded destination app / engagement workflows, making it one of the closest comparable offerings in the destination/place-management SaaS category.

Broad incumbents

• OpenGov: OpenGov provides cloud software for budgeting, financial reporting, and community transparency in the public sector. It targets the same local-authority buyers as Vicinity and competes for civic-tech procurement dollars, though its core is financial/operational rather than place or community engagement.
• HubSpot: HubSpot provides CRM, marketing automation, and content tools widely adopted by SMBs and nonprofits, including BID-like organisations. It competes with Vicinity for the same marketing/CRM budgets at a horizontal level, though it lacks place-specific data, levy tracking, or AI local-intelligence capabilities.
• Salesforce: Salesforce is the dominant horizontal CRM platform with industry clouds (including public sector and nonprofit) and an app exchange. It is comparable to Vicinity at the CRM layer but as a broad incumbent, not a place-vertical specialist; councils and BIDs already running Salesforce could extend rather than buy Vicinity.
• Granicus: Granicus is a broad government-technology suite covering communications, public-meeting management, and civic engagement for US and Canadian municipalities. It overlaps with Vicinity on the council/civic-engagement side but as a wider portfolio of gov-tech products rather than a place-management specialist.
• Yardi: Yardi is a major commercial and residential property management SaaS suite used by landlords, asset managers, and property owners. It is comparable to Vicinity on the property-owner/estate segment but at vastly greater scale and breadth, with no specialization in BID/BIA place management.
• MRI Software: MRI Software sells real estate and property management software including CRM, lease management, and tenant engagement modules. It intersects with Vicinity's CRM and property-owner use cases but serves enterprise real estate rather than BID/DMO customers.

Emerging players

• Bang the Table: Bang the Table operates an online community engagement platform used by councils and place-makers to gather resident input and run consultations. It is comparable to Vicinity's engagement/community layer (Branded Apps, Lili) but focuses on consultative participation rather than economic-impact CRM.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks1 record

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@VicinityandBeyond
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/vicinity
• Xx.com/loyalfreeapp

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 LoyalFree