Clutch, a leading platform powering loyalty, rewards, gifting and mobile commerce for consumer-focused retailers and brands, today announced that Paybefore has selected the Clutch app as a 2014 Paybefore Awards winner in The Gotta-Have Mobile App category. The Clutch app was selected by a panel of five industry experts who served as judges for this year's competition, which--once again--included a record number of entries from around the world.

"With the Clutch app, consumers have a single location for all of their shopping-related needs, including the ability to make purchases within the app itself with just a few taps," said Andy O'Dell, co-founder and chief commercial officer, Clutch. "Our team has worked tirelessly to create such a comprehensive app that consumers will love, so being recognized as a winner in these highly competitive awards is a true honor."

Clutch is the first and only application to address today's fragmented mobile shopping landscape by providing one app that unites shopping, gifting and loyalty with users' real-time location and social data. Available as a free download on the iOS and Android platforms, Clutch includes mobile wallet functionality, product discovery through collections and social shopping feeds, shopping, gifting, loyalty and more. Consumers receive the most relevant offers while retailers and brands reach the most targeted customers.

"An industry is only as good as its innovators. This year's Paybefore Awards have demonstrated that prepaid, emerging and mobile payments companies always find new ways to address consumer, government and business needs," said Loraine DeBonis, Paybefore editor-in-chief and chair of the judging panel. "We are proud to recognize Clutch's contributions to advancing the industry."

For eight years, Paybefore Awards has conferred the most prestigious recognition of excellence in the worldwide prepaid, mobile and emerging payments industry. The awards are presented annually by Paybefore, whose publications are the leading source of industry information for alternative payments executives.

"The companies and programs recognized in the 2014 Paybefore Awards are great of examples of what can be accomplished when innovators apply thoughtfulness and payments technology to address real-world needs," added Marilyn Bochicchio, Paybefore's CEO.

The Clutch app will now vie for Best-in-Category distinction, which will be announced during the Paybefore Awards ceremony on March 4 at the All Payments Expo. For the second year, visitors to Paybefore.com will have a chance to vote on Best in Category. The outcome of this vote (counted as one-sixth of the total) will be combined with the five judges' picks to determine Best-in-Category honorees.

About Clutch

As the premier platform for "Consumer Lifecycle Success" (CLS), Clutch is the first and only system that helps brands create, unify, manage, and measure success across increasingly complex marketing efforts and technology ecosystems. The goal of every retailer is optimizing the lifetime value of consumers at each stage of the lifecycle. Clutch provides a comprehensive set of modular solutions to drive loyalty, increase consumer spend and reward brand advocacy by unifying the currently fragmented consumer experiences, wherever customers are - in-store, online, and through mobile and social channels. We feed the customer experience, the experience feeds the brand loyalty, and the loyalty feeds the revenue.

Headquartered in Philadelphia PA, Clutch supports over 450 retailers globally and more than 40 million consumer accounts. Clutch is a proud partner company of Safeguard Scientifics (NYSE:SFE) and Ben Franklin Technology Partners. For more information, please visit www.clutchloyalty.com, follow Clutch on Twitter @ClutchShopping or like Clutch on Facebook.

About Paybefore

Paybefore is the leading information provider to prepaid, mobile and emerging payments industry professionals, offering the latest news, commentary and analysis. Paybefore's family of industry publications includes: Paybefore.com; Pay NewsTM; Pay GovTM; Pay WeekTM; Pay Op-EdTM; Pay MagazineTM, a biannual print publication featuring in-depth articles on the opportunities, challenges and trends in the global payments industry; and the only industry directory, Pay ConnectTM buyer's guide, available online and in print. Visit us at www.paybefore.com.

fama PR
Kate Thermansen, 617-986-5006
clutch@famapr.com