Sunnyvale, CA / www.myprgenie.com / ACCESSWIRE / October 08, 2014 / Sand Hill Angels, a leading angel group, announced participation in a $2.4 Million bridge round in Perkville to seed the company’s growth and product expansion.
"Perkville has increased its user-base 244% over the two year time frame we’ve known them. It’s not every day that we see a start-up so rapidly expand while also increasing customer loyalty," said David Koehn, Member of Sand Hill Angels. "The world is moving to the cloud and increasingly users are relying on a single device—the phone - for everything. This bodes well for Perkville’s platform, which requires no special hardware or membership cards."
The software as a service (SaaS) platform, which enables any business to create and manage a customer rewards and loyalty program, will use the funds to sustain its rapid growth in the fitness and gym vertical, and to accelerate expansion into new verticals. Perkville is used by businesses worldwide and has quickly grown to over 1 million users. Sand Hill Angels invested in Perkville’s bridge to Series A round in 2013. As a major investor, Sand Hill Angels assumes their typical Board Observer role continuing to support Perkville's growth.
Sand Hill Angels’ expertise in cloud, mobile, and e-commerce make Perkville a great fit as a portfolio company – and the group has watched Perkville grow alongside the rise of a lucrative cloud-based loyalty market. While many startups have burned through huge piles of cash with little to show for it, Perkville has operated near profitability and grown massively with an efficient use of capital. Perkville is a real business with real customers paying them ongoing subscription for a service with a recognized value.
"We looked for investors who remain calm and can assist with the challenges of growing a company. Sand Hill Angels is filled with these types of investors and we're thrilled to work with them. David Koehn, in particular, has a strong SaaS background and has already provided many great recommendations for scaling our sales and marketing." - Sunil Saha - CEO, Perkville
Leading the Series A, alongside Sand Hill Angels, Moneta Ventures also validates Perkville’s model:
"Perkville is already leading in fitness," said Lokesh Sikaria, Managing Partner of Moneta Ventures. "With more and more POS integrations coming online, a greater swath of businesses will be able to simply flip a switch and have a rewards program. Retail, salon, and spa look particularly poised for success."
Both lead investors cited Perkville’s no-hardware model as a primary driver of their confidence in the promise of Perkville’s SaaS customer loyalty and retention solution. Other investors include Xandex Ventures, MDO Holdings, Fifth Era and members of Keiretsu Forum and Berkeley Angel Network.
"Perkville is another strong performer in our portfolio. More than that, we are always looking for synergies between our companies, and Perkville's offering is an obvious potential addition to several other startups we have invested in. This is another way we stay engaged with our companies," said Markus Fromherz, President of the Board.
Sand Hill Angels ranked second in network centrality among all angel groups, according to CB Insights Periodic Table of Tech (http://www.cbinsights.com/blog/tech-periodic-table/), and the group ranked in the top 3 most active angel groups in the Angel Resource Institute’s Q1 2014 Halo Report (http://www.angelresourceinstitute.org/en/Research/Halo-Report/Halo-Report.aspx).Sand Hill Angels surpassed mid-year expectations both in terms of total amount invested at $2M and number of investments, 22 - while simultaneously announcing an ambitious program to build relationships with a whole range of potential technology, distribution and financing partners, including a recent partnership with the PayPal Startup Blueprint (https://blueprint.paypal.com). These relationships are driving investment diversity and pushing SHA into the next phase in new technology innovation.
About Perkville, Inc.
Perkville is a leader in SaaS loyalty and retention programs. Through ready made integrations with POS systems, Perkville automatically rewards customer visits, tracks referrals, drives social media, and more. The Perkville platform empowers any business to create a customized loyalty and rewards program in minutes. Perkville is free for users, and offers monthly subscriptions for businesses of all sizes.
Learn more at http://www.perkville.com/learn
About Sand Hill Angels
Sand Hill Angels is a group of Silicon Valley accredited investors passionate about entrepreneurship and the commercialization of disruptive technologies and business models. With experience spanning all aspects of growing successful companies – from the formative stage through management of multi-billion dollar enterprises – Sand Hill Angels provides expertise and assistance to these fledging companies. The investment space includes Internet, Information Technology, Clean Tech, Consumer, and Life Sciences businesses. The Sand Hill Angel operating model is to work openly and collaboratively with venture capital funds, other angel organizations, and the Bay Area ecosystem that fosters the growth of technology startups. For additional information, visit www.sandhillangels.com
Contact: Nichole Khan, [email protected], 408-888-8766
SOURCE: Perkville, Inc.