SessionM
- Founded
- 2011-01-01 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- Headquarters
- Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- info@sessionm.com
SessionM is an enterprise-grade customer engagement and loyalty platform headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, founded in 2011 by Lars Albright, Mark Herrmann, and Scott Weller. Originally leveraging gamification to boost mobile app engagement and ad performance, the company evolved into a comprehensive loyalty marketing and customer data platform serving major global brands across retail, financial services, hospitality, and other verticals. In 2019, Mastercard acquired SessionM to expand its merchant loyalty and marketing services, and in early 2026, Capillary Technologies acquired SessionM from Mastercard for approximately $20 million, further strengthening Capillary’s loyalty solutions. The platform unifies customer data, powers personalized engagement, and drives measurable loyalty through campaign management, point-of-sale integration, offers, incentives, and a full suite of APIs. Employing roughly 175 people, SessionM continues to operate under Capillary Technologies’ umbrella, combining Capillary’s AI-driven insights with its own robust loyalty engine.
Detailed Review
History and Founding
SessionM was founded in 2011 in Boston, Massachusetts, by Lars Albright, Mark Herrmann, and Scott Weller. Albright, a veteran of Apple’s iAd and Quatro Wireless, brought deep mobile advertising expertise. The company started as a mobile-first engagement platform using game mechanics to increase user retention and ad monetization, but quickly expanded into a full-stack loyalty and engagement solution.
Business Model and Products
SessionM’s platform is designed for enterprise-scale, high-volume data handling. Key components include a Customer Data Platform (CDP) that unifies customer profiles, behavioral events, and transaction data; a campaign management system for targeted, multi-channel campaigns (push, in-app, email, SMS) with real-time personalization; a loyalty and incentives engine managing points, tiers, offers, and rewards across POS and digital channels; a comprehensive API ecosystem with RESTful APIs for customers, campaigns, POS, offers, incentives, catalog, and transactions; and analytics and reporting for program performance, customer lifetime value, and engagement trends.
Market Position and Competitors
SessionM competes with platforms like Braze, Aliado, and Capillary’s own products, but differentiates itself through its loyalty-specific features and ability to orchestrate complex, multi-touchpoint programs. The platform’s enterprise-grade capabilities are used by major brands in retail, financial services, hospitality, and other sectors.
Acquisitions and Strategic Direction
The 2019 acquisition by Mastercard validated SessionM’s strategic importance for merchant loyalty, integrating it into Mastercard’s data-driven services for managing loyalty beyond card-linked offers. In early 2026, Capillary Technologies acquired SessionM from Mastercard for approximately $20 million, aiming to bolster its own loyalty capabilities and expand into new markets. Post-acquisition, Capillary committed to supporting existing customers and enhancing the platform, combining its AI-driven insights with SessionM’s loyalty engine.
Key Products
SessionM Loyalty Platform
Enterprise-grade loyalty management with CDP, campaign orchestration, and incentive engines.
SessionM Campaigns
Multi-channel campaign management (push, in-app, email, SMS) for targeted engagement.
SessionM API Ecosystem
RESTful APIs for customers, campaigns, POS, offers, incentives, catalog, and transactions.
SessionM Customer Data Platform
Unifies first-party data for 360-degree customer profiles and segmentation.
Offices & Headcount
175 employees (approx.)