Startup Royal Loyal sells to Wichita coffee company
December 6, 2016 | Meghan LeVota
Royal Loyal, which created an app to encourage loyalty at convenience and retail stores, sold to Wichita-based Prairie Fire Coffee, Royal Loyal CEO Babir Sultan said, declining to offer a monetary value.
Royal Loyal’s app allows users to save money and earn free products at various gas stations, fast food and retail stores. The application brings small businesses together who are looking for a more modern technique than punch cards, but can’t afford to build their own independent app.
Sultan said that Royal Loyal had been working with Prairie Fire on a trial basis for the past year. After pitching the technology to several other coffee companies, Sultan said he was thrilled that Prairie Fire Coffee saw the value in his firm.
“The sale makes me feel so relieved,” Sultan said. “In addition to the money, I think the main value is the experience that I gained through Royal Loyal.”
Before founding Royal Loyal in 2014, Sultan for years owned and operated a handful of convenience stores. Seeing the popularity of QuikTrip’s app and the Hy-Vee gas card, Sultan wanted to make his local gas station chain, FavTrip, stand out.
In addition to the loyalty app, Sultan added that Prairie Fire Coffee was attracted to Royal Loyal’s data analytics tool, helping the firm better learn about its customers.
Sultan will continue working with Royal Loyal for the next few months to ease the transition process. In the near future, he plans to continue operating FavTrip — but on the horizon, Sultan plans to give back to the entrepreneurial community.
Sultan said he owes his success to area resources — Royal Loyal received funding and guidance from Digital Sandbox KC and SparkLabKC and Sultan is an E-Scholars graduate— and local mentors.
“I’ve been reaching out to incubators thinking about how I could pay it forward,” Sultan said. “Being able to fund somebody else’s idea would be the most rewarding experience for me right now, and I am looking forward to exploring that.”
Featured Business
2016 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Two KC EdTech startups earn spots in latest LEANLAB cohort; launch set for August
It’s a highly selective process to join the fifth LEANLAB K-12 fellowship, said Katie Boody, but two Kansas City startups made the cut. K12 Perform and Base Academy of Music will join four other cohort members — hailing from the Midwest to Washington D.C. — in the August-to-November EdTech accelerator program. LEANLAB is partnering…
HechoKC cast in hand-made image of Chicano artist’s culture, family, community
Witnessing — and participating in — Kansas City’s renaissance has been amazing, said Luis Garcia, the longtime artist behind HechoKC. The Crossroads used to be a ghost town, said Garcia, who has been part of the KC scene since his years at the Kansas City Art Institute. He developed SPYN Studio, a branding and design…
Quartet of startups hop into the Digital Sandbox KC
Four early-stage businesses recently entered the Digital Sandbox KC program. The new startups demonstrate the ingenuity Digital Sandbox aims to attract for its grant-funding efforts, said Jeff Shackelford, director of Digital Sandbox KC. “From helping students prepare for college to analyzing voting records to predict legislative outcomes, the startups in the Sandbox are a great…
Newest Techstars KC class tackling payday loans, food safety, bots for business
Techstars Kansas City has revealed its 2018 cohort of startups. The 10 companies will make a big impact not only on Kansas City but the global economy, said Lesa Mitchell, managing director of Techstars KC. “Although our companies come from many industries, they share in common that they are all solving problems to make the…