UAE residents may be missing discounts, cashback offers and reward benefits already linked to their bank cards, memberships and loyalty programmes, according to Ulkar Mammadzada the founder of DiscGo.
DiscGo, an app that brings such offers into one platform, was created after its founder noticed that discounts, bank perks, membership benefits, cashback offers and reward opportunities were going unused because they were spread across apps, websites, bank pages and membership platforms.
“I moved to Dubai around ten years ago, and after a few years of living here, I started noticing just how many discounts, bank perks, membership benefits, cashback offers, and reward opportunities were sitting around completely unused,” Mammadzada said.
The issue became clearer during COVID, when people became more focused on spending and value. The founder said the problem was not that offers did not exist, but that they were scattered.
“The idea stayed with me for years. Then a close friend, Anna, encouraged me to stop waiting and finally build it properly – because the gap was still there. People had access to real benefits, but no easy way to discover and use them in everyday life. That’s the problem DiscGo was created to solve,” she said.
So, how does DiscGo really work?
When users sign up to DiscGo, they select the bank cards, memberships, loyalty programmes or discount platforms they already have.
“The important part – and the thing people are always relieved to hear – is that they don’t share any sensitive financial information,” Mammadzada explained, adding DiscGo does not ask or store card numbers, account numbers, or payment details.
After users make their selections, DiscGo filters offers they can access. Users can search by category, use a map to find nearby offers, or check whether a restaurant, salon, attraction or service has an offer through something they already hold.
DiscGo launched on May 14 with 25 providers. Within two weeks, that increased to 31 providers, representing close to 250 products across cards, memberships and platforms. The company aims to reach around 40 providers by the end of the year.
“So the experience is simple: select what you already have, browse what you need, and let DiscGo remove the noise,” she explained.
But is this a Dubai, UAE or GCC problem?
The founder said the idea first appeared to be a Dubai problem, before it became clear that it applied to the UAE and then the wider GCC.
The UAE was chosen because discounts, perks and rewards are part of consumer spending in the country. Banks offer dining and lifestyle benefits. Membership platforms provide buy-one-get-one deals or direct discounts. Loyalty programmes offer points, cashback and rates.
However, Mammadzada said the user experience remains fragmented.
“In so many cases, the offer exists – but the user doesn’t know about it, forgets about it, or simply doesn’t want to spend time checking several platforms before making a simple decision. That’s the problem DiscGo solves. We started in the UAE because the density of offers, memberships, banks, restaurants, hotels, attractions, and lifestyle spending is so high here. But the opportunity clearly goes beyond the UAE – especially across the GCC, where the same behaviour and the same fragmentation exist,” she said..
Bank card benefits users did not know they had
According to her, the biggest surprise for users has been the number of benefits they already had through bank cards, according to the founder.
“A lot of people know their bank gives them basic rewards or points, but they don’t realise the same card might also give them restaurant discounts, hotel offers, attractions, salon deals, and other lifestyle benefits they’ve been paying for and never touching,” she said.
Newcomers to the UAE have also used the app to understand the country’s discount and membership system.
Mammadzada said people moving from Europe, the US and elsewhere often do not realise how much discounts and perks are part of daily life in the UAE.
“For them, DiscGo becomes almost a shortcut to understanding the city — instead of slowly figuring out where the value is over months, they open the app and see it immediately. We now have around 18,000 businesses represented across categories, so it’s never limited to one type of saving. It spans restaurants, cafés, beauty, wellness, attractions, hotels, experiences, and services,” she added.
However, DiscGo is not another discount provider
The founder said DiscGo does not view the market in the traditional competitor sense because it sits between banks, membership platforms, loyalty programmes, cashback providers and discount apps.
In some cases, those companies are also providers and partners whose offers DiscGo helps users find.
“What makes DiscGo different is that we’re not trying to be just another offer provider. We’re building a discovery layer across the whole market. The complexity is much higher than it looks from the outside. The same restaurant might appear across several providers – with slightly different names, addresses, formats, or missing location data. Our job is to clean, structure, match, and simplify all of that, so the user doesn’t see the same place seven times. That’s where the real work is. The app is meant to feel effortless for the user, but the back-end is genuinely complex. So rather than pointing to one direct competitor, I’d say we’re creating a new layer that brings existing benefits into one place and makes them easier to use,” she said.
3,000 DiscGo users and counting
Despite its recent launch, DiscGo has a user base of 3,000 users after launch. Mammadzada said the growth came because users recognised the problem.
However, according to her, most users who downloaded the app could find at least two or three things they already had.
DiscGo now has 31 providers, close to 250 products, and users are adding an average of around five memberships or cards each.
“That tells us the problem is real – people already hold a lot of benefits, they just need help organising and discovering them. In terms of retention, we’re already seeing healthy repeat usage, especially from people who check DiscGo before deciding where to eat, where to go, or which service to book. That’s exactly the behaviour we want to build: before you spend, check DiscGo,” she said.
How offers are found and checked
DiscGo gets information in several ways. Some comes directly from providers and brand partners. Some is based on publicly available information, as the offers are meant to be found and used by consumers.
“There’s no confidential consumer information involved at any point. These are public or partner-provided offers that companies genuinely want people to use. One thing we’ve learned from our conversations with providers is that distribution is a real challenge. Many companies invest heavily in creating benefits, but those offers are still difficult for consumers to discover at the right moment,” she said, adding DiscGo says it helps providers and brands with visibility, helps users with discovery, and sends businesses people who already have a reason to visit.
“Verification matters too. We clean the data, match locations, remove duplicates, structure the offers, and keep improving accuracy as the platform grows,” Mammadzada explained.
Young professionals eye smart spending via DiscGo
The first is young professionals who go out and want to use the city while spending with more awareness.
“Dubai is an amazing place to live, but it isn’t cheap. These users aren’t trying to cut back in a restrictive way – they just want to spend smarter and stop leaving value on the table,” she said
The second group is families. Mammadzada said family spending on dining, activities, entertainment, children’s experiences, hotels and services can add up. Using existing memberships and card benefits more often could add up to thousands of dirhams over a year.
The third group is newcomers who are trying to understand which cards matter, which platforms people use and where to look for offers.
“We also see interest from people comparing credit cards or memberships, because they want to know which products actually give them useful benefits around town,” she added.
Spending during regional uncertainty
The DiscGo founder noted that regional uncertainty has made people more conscious about spending, but has not stopped them from going out or enjoying life in Dubai.
“People start asking themselves: am I getting the best value from what I already have? Am I using my bank benefits? My memberships? Am I missing cashback, points, or discounts I’m entitled to?,” the Mammadzada said, adding DiscGo is not asking people to change their lifestyle, but to get more value from spending they are already doing.
“Once people realise how much they already have access to, checking DiscGo becomes a habit,” she explained.
However, for Mammadzada, the hardest part of building DiscGo has been making something complex feel simple.
“On the surface, DiscGo looks like an easy discovery app. But behind the scenes there’s an enormous amount of data cleaning, matching, categorising, mapping, verification, product logic, and technical infrastructure,” the founder said. Technical co-founder Ilkin built the app, back-end, front-end, databases, APIs, security, Android, iOS and stability. The founder said the core product is built in-house and not outsourced.
Kanzy El Defrawy joined more recently and leads much of the partnerships, connections, PR and relationship-building. Mammadzada’s own role covers data, product, design, operations, strategy, growth, user experience, commercial direction, marketing, content, financial planning and daily priorities.
The company is bootstrapped and has a small team, with each person covering several areas.
Expansion plans for the UAE and GCC
DiscGo plans to grow beyond the UAE. Mammadzada said the UAE is the starting point, but the opportunity is larger.
“In two years, I’d like DiscGo to be the default discovery layer for benefits, offers, and rewards in the UAE – with hundreds of thousands of people using it before they decide where to go, what to book, or how to spend,” she said, adding that reaching half a million users in the UAE would be a strong and realistic milestone. The wider GCC is a natural next step, and the company is building relationships that could support expansion.
“At the same time, we’re very disciplined about what we add. As a small team, we can’t chase every idea. Every feature has to pass a simple test: does it help users come back, does it improve discovery, and does it support growth? The long-term goal isn’t just to show people discounts. It’s to help them make better everyday spending decisions using the benefits they already have,” she concluded.
