1 Million Upsiders

We did it. We’ve officially joined the Two Comma Club—1,000,000 Upsiders and counting. Just over five years ago, we were celebrating our first 100,000. Back then, it was clear we were onto something special, but even we couldn’t have predicted the wild ride ahead. In 2019, we ended the year on a high—our tyres were pumped to 60psi after a huge response from both you—our customers—and the industry in our first full year.

We held our inaugural Spring Tree event, where we got to meet so many of you, share our vision, and geek out over what was coming next. By the end of the year, we were dreaming big, even scouting new office spaces with rooftop decks and beer taps. Essentials for any bank, right?

Then came the curveball: a water leak delayed our new lease signing. Fortunately, that turned out to be a blessing in disguise—by March 2020, the world was turned on it’s head. COVID-19 hit, and Up HQ became a ghost town. Overnight, we had to find a way to keep the magic alive while working remotely. Through it all, you continued to show up for us, and we made sure to keep showing up for you.

Looking back at the chaos of 2020, it’s incredible to see what we managed to achieve. We delivered some of our most-loved features: Upnames, Covers & Forwards, Up-to-Up payments & replies, Wise international payments, Saver Pools (our visualiser for savers), and more.

The feature train continued to roll. In 2021 we shipped Payment Requests, Spendable Balance and 2Up just to name a few. By September we’d been acquired. With 400,000 customers we officially became a part of Bendigo Bank. Was this the beginning of the end? It wasn’t. Why? because we had a secret weapon that would see us through…

Our Secret Weapon

Up has something no other bank in Australia does—an incredibly loyal and vocal customer base that’s passionate about bringing their mates, significant others, co-workers, and family over to The Upside. In fact, 4 out of every 5 new Upsiders join because of a recommendation from someone they know.

This level of advocacy is practically unheard of in our industry, and it’s something we wear as a badge of honour. We believe our customers are our greatest asset, which is why we invest so heavily in making life better on The Upside for the customers we already have—not just those we don’t have.

Beyond bringing in new faces, you’ve been incredible at keeping us on our toes, offering frank and fair feedback which has become a consistent and valued part of our relationship. You’ve also been an amazing source of ideas. One of the best parts of what we do is circling back to let customers know when a feature they asked for has shipped! Some examples…

Locked Savers: As a bank, we consider it our number one job to keep your money safe and give you access to it when you want it. Turns out you had other ideas. From the early days, we had consistent requests to make it harder to access your hard fought savings. Enter Locked Savers — a 3 hour delay in getting access to your money has become the number one weapon in Up’s impulse control arsenal.

Interest Opt-out: Again, filed under “Things banks should always do” is pay interest on savings. But some of you had other ideas, didn’t you? For years we’ve seen regular requests for Savers without the sauce — Upsiders not wanting to earn interest on their savings. Frequently, but not exclusively, for religious reasons, we shipped the ability to opt-out of interest in September.

Life's better on The Upside

Hitting 1 million customers is a milestone we couldn’t have reached without you—our community of loyal, passionate Upsiders. To celebrate, here’s a look at some of the ways we’ve been giving back—and maybe even a sneak peek at something new on the horizon. Check out a couple of our highlights from our "Better on the Upside" initiatives over the years:

Perk Up: Three years of free coffees

Perk Up has been spreading morning joy across the country for the past three years with random acts of free coffee. Running weekdays from 7–11am, this promotion has seen over 5 million entries and more than 100,000 lucky winners. That’s more than $500K worth of coffees covered by Up. A little boost to start the day, on us!

Happy Hour: Cheers to Friday knock-off freebies

Happy Hour has been bringing the good vibes to Friday knock-offs, giving Upsiders the chance to score cash back on drinks and food every week. With 370,124 entries and 38,756 winners so far, we’ve covered $287,981.52 in Friday knock-off freebies. It’s our way of helping you start the weekend with a happy ending.

The Upside Cash Splash 1 Million:

Next week, our Cash Splash promotion kicks off, beginning Monday (Nov 25), millions of cents will rain down upon Upsiders daily, with the Final Splashdown on Friday. Make sure you’re on the latest version of the Up app come Monday at 9am AEDT—as the cash storm begins to roll in.

Got any ideas on how Perk-Up and Happy Hour could be better? Let us know through Talk To Us, so we can keep improving it.