AnyPerk Closes $8.5 Million Series A Round, Validates the Business Impact of Employee Happiness

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 3, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- AnyPerk, which brings delight and recognition back into the everyday lives of employees at companies of any size, announced today it has closed $8.5 million in Series A financing, bringing its total funding to over $13 million since AnyPerk was founded. AnyPerk will use the round to strengthen its core perks offering and fuel innovation of new products and services focused on employee happiness.

"We saw employee happiness as an often overlooked -- and underinvested in -- part of business that pays off in increased productivity, retention and engagement," said AnyPerk CEO Taro Fukuyama. "We built the AnyPerk platform as a simple and affordable way for companies of any size to delight their employees with perks that improve their everyday lives."

"The market responded. We grew 206% in the six months since our seed round, which was really exciting; and now the space is heating up as well," Fukuyama added.

The investment is the largest Series A round in the employee happiness space, and was led by Osuke Honda of DCM Ventures, with participation from original AnyPerk investor Digital Garage. Honda will join the AnyPerk Board of Directors.

DCM joins AnyPerk's all-star group of investors including early backers Andreessen-Horowitz, SV Angel and Y Combinator, and Tony Hsieh and Zach Ware of Vegas Tech Fund; Tien Tzuo, CEO of Zuora; Vayner RSE; and FundersClub.

"We invested in AnyPerk because we believe employee happiness is becoming increasingly vital to a company's bottom line," said Osuke Honda, Partner, DCM. "AnyPerk is leading the $50 billion enterprise rewards market by delivering products focused on helping companies attract and retain employees while creating a culture that encourages greater employee engagement and ultimately greater productivity. We look forward to working with AnyPerk, led by Taro, as the company continues its mission to create a more satisfied, engaged workforce."

AnyPerk has created a customizable perks platform to help its customers easily recognize and reward employees with the kinds of corporate perks once only available to a few blue-chip organizations with deep pockets. AnyPerk has negotiated over 700 corporate discounts for its customers, often by company request to fit their employees' lifestyles, ranging from discounts on frequently used services like 24 Hour Fitness, AMC movie tickets and Lyft to products like Beats by Dre and Ray-Bans.

According to Fukuyama, "Managers know it's crucial to keep good employees as long as possible, but they all too often focus HR efforts on recruitment and neglect retention. The cost of replacing an employee is approximately 1.5 times more than his or her annual salary due to recruitment and training costs, as well as the cost of lost time and productivity."

The Harvard Business Review notes that happy employees have 37% higher sales numbers; are 31% more productive; and clock in with three times the creative thinking compared to their unhappy counterparts. Happy employees also are more likely to stay at their jobs and become loyal champions for their brands.

"We are thrilled to provide AnyPerk to our employees as a benefit that makes their lives easier and more convenient," said Karen Miller, SVP of People, GrubHub Seamless. "It's a great way for us to thank our people for their hard work and motivate them to do what they do best for us every day!"

AnyPerk currently has hundreds of clients nationwide and has more than tripled the number of employees on their team in the past year. "We recognize creating employee happiness is not a one-size-fits-all endeavor so we will be using this newest round of funding to expand our offering to address even more pieces of the puzzle," Fukuyama added.

For more information on AnyPerk, visit :http://www.anyperk.com

About AnyPerk
AnyPerk is changing the way companies large and small attract and retain employees. By delivering hundreds of perks negotiated exclusively for AnyPerk customers through an easy-to-use and customizable portal, AnyPerk helps hundreds of companies delight their employees. Founded in 2012, AnyPerk is headquartered in San Francisco.

For press inquires contact:
Merredith Branscombe for AnyPerk
Leap! Public Relations 
phone:  720.235.7363
email: [email protected] 

Susan Baldwin for AnyPerk
Leap! Public Relations 
phone: 509.939.1137
email: [email protected]

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150203/173033LOGO

SOURCE AnyPerk