Company Dossier • Travel-Tech & Fintech • Singapore
utu.
Giving travelers back more of the tax they paid - in miles, points and vouchers.
Giving travelers back more of the tax they paid - in miles, points and vouchers.
Buy something abroad and you are usually owed the tax back. The catch: the legacy system hands you barely half of it. utu exists to close that gap.
utu is a Singapore-headquartered travel-technology and fintech company built around one stubborn inefficiency in global shopping. When tourists shop tax-free, they are entitled to a refund of the value-added tax (VAT) or goods-and-services tax (GST). In practice, after the incumbent operators take their cut, the traveler often walks away with only 55 to 60 percent of what they paid.
utu re-routes that refund. Through its app and virtual Tax Free Card, a shopper can direct the refund to utu and receive up to 85 percent back in cash - or, more interestingly, convert it into up to 40 percent more value as frequent-flyer miles or hotel points. A newer product uses AI to read a photo of a tax-free form and turn it into a retail voucher worth as much as 120 percent of the tax paid, spendable at duty-free and partner stores.
In doing so, utu stitches together players that rarely talked to each other before: travelers, retailers, duty-free operators, VAT refund companies, airlines and hotels. Each transaction becomes a small loop of value rather than a leaky one-way payout.
The company describes its aim plainly - to pioneer a new era of tourism retail that connects duty-free and tax-free shopping and maximizes value for the traveler rather than the middleman.
A rough illustration of the value a traveler keeps on a tax-free purchase. Figures reflect utu's stated refund ranges.
Bars are approximate and for illustration - actual value varies by country, retailer and redemption choice.
utu was founded by brothers Asad Jumabhoy (Co-Founder & CEO) and Ameer Jumabhoy (Co-Founder & Chief Commercial Officer). Asad brings roughly 25 years in the tax-refund industry and a hand in shaping the two companies that dominate the space - Global Blue and Premier Tax Free (now Planet). That insider knowledge is the company's sharpest tool: utu is built by people who know exactly where value leaks out of the tax-free system.
"The cross-border travel market is ripe for technology-driven transformation, with tax-free shopping presenting vast untapped potential."
Virtual card that upsizes your VAT/GST refund - take up to 40% more value in airline miles or hotel points instead of a shrunken cash payout.
Photograph a tax-free form or receipt; AI converts it into a retail voucher worth up to 120% of the tax paid, redeemable at duty-free and partner shops.
Consumer refund service returning up to 85% of VAT - well above the industry's typical 55-60%.
Mobile-first deals and promotions app, acquired from SC Ventures, delivering hyper-local rewards to nearby users.
The tax-free refund market has long been a near-duopoly - Global Blue and Planet - operating on a model that keeps the largest slice of the refund. utu's wager is that the traveler, not the operator, should capture more of that value, and that doing so builds a network everyone else wants to join.
Its differentiation is threefold. First, value: more back in cash, and far more if taken as miles, points or vouchers. Second, connection: it links duty-free and tax-free shopping, payments and rewards into a single loop the incumbents left fragmented. Third, pedigree: the founders helped build the very system they are now unbundling, so they know its plumbing.
Where it fits in the market: utu sits at the intersection of travel retail, loyalty and fintech - a challenger positioned above the refund counter, distributing airline and hotel currency the incumbents never carried. The 2023 acquisition of CardsPal added mobile-first rewards muscle to that position.
Ten global airlines plus hospitality and investment partners power utu's rewards loop.
The Jumabhoy brothers launch utu to rethink tax-free shopping using their travel-retail expertise.
Early platform integrates rewards into payments - ~1M transactions across ~40,000 merchants.
Begins refunding up to 85% of VAT to shoppers, far above the industry norm.
Launches the Tax Free Card - up to 40% more value in airline miles instead of cash.
Raises Series B led by SC Ventures and acquires CardsPal for mobile-first rewards.
Introduces AI that converts tax-free form photos into vouchers worth up to 120% of the tax.
utu helps international shoppers get more from their VAT and GST tax refunds by upsizing them into airline miles, hotel points, or retail vouchers worth more than the standard cash refund.
Brothers Asad Jumabhoy (Co-Founder & CEO) and Ameer Jumabhoy (Co-Founder & Chief Commercial Officer), both veterans of the tax-free shopping industry.
About US$55 million in total, including a US$33 million Series B led by SC Ventures in June 2023.
Those legacy operators typically return 55-60% of the tax. utu returns more - up to 85% in cash, or up to 40% extra value in miles and points - shifting the benefit to the traveler.
utu operates across markets including Italy, Switzerland and the UAE, with a Singapore headquarters and partnerships spanning 10 global airlines and hospitality group Accor.