Iceland-based Fintech expert, Ari Steinarsson and his team, is set to take over the Canadian and Republic of Ireland markets with his innovative fintech solutions. Ari Steinarsson is a seasoned Greentech innovator, entrepreneur, digital marketer, startup enthusiast, and product developer. He is also the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of YAY Moments, a gift and payment card company that started in his native country, Iceland. The company is popularly known for helping the Icelandic government to revamp its crumbling tourism industry, in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ari Steinarsson recounts how he steered YAY Moments to dominate the Icelandic fintech market in the past few years. He reveals that one of the company’s most remarkable achievements was partnering with the Icelandic government to give residents tourist gift cards usable in the nation’s tourism industry, a move aimed at helping the Icelandic tourism sector survive the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. He notes that, through this partnership, the government handed out travel gift cards worth 5,000 ISK (approximately $40) to individuals with legal residence in Iceland, who were born in 2002 and earlier. He emphasized that YAY Moments embraces eco-friendliness by creating digital gift cards that are only accessible through mobile apps. He states unequivocally, his passion for sustainable innovation.
According to Steinarsson, at the time YAY Moments was chosen by the Icelandic government, the fintech start-up was barely six months old. However, he led them to execute the policy in the most amazing fashion. He also reveals that this feat prompted the government to entrust YAY Moments with the gift card giveaway project for the following year, 2021. Steinarsson recalls that, within the first month of the launch, 30% of the entire nation had claimed the gift via an app and around 1,100 companies had adopted the program and, in May 2021, the number of users had surpassed 80% of the nation’s population. Speaking about how he came about how he co-founded YAY Moments, Steinarsson explains that the company was founded by six friends who were fed up with losing or forgetting physical gift cards in the drawer only to find them later after they had expired.
Having dominated the Icelandic fintech market for years, Steinarsson, alongside his team, is now ready to launch YAY Moments into the Canadian market and further spread across Europe. He enumerates specific areas YAY Moments aims to address when his company finally breaks into its new territories.
“The primary objective is to simplify the process of using gift cards in online shopping and enable users to add additional funds to the card if they wish to purchase beyond the gift card value. A frequent challenge with gift cards, especially for online shopping, is the limited options to split payments or use them for transactions exceeding the gift card value. By allowing users to load additional funds onto the gift card, we eliminate the issue of leaving unused amounts on the gift cards, marking a significant breakthrough in the industry."
As Steinarsson continues to drive YAY Moments towards significant growth and unprecedented expansion, he will be banking on the brand’s uniqueness which includes the app’s user-friendliness and the payment card’s versatility.
Media Contact:
Name: Ari Steinarsson
Email: [email protected]
