Social Rewards Closes $600,000 Seed Round, Exceeds Financing Goals

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Social Rewards, a social loyalty platform, has closed an oversubscribed seed round of angel funding totaling $600,000. The company was self-funded for a year with $250,000 from founders Joseph Morin and Mike Uesugi before raising any outside capital, and exceeded its original funding goal of $500,000.

Social Rewards provides a brand's customers with loyalty points for engaging in social media activity via Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, and YouTube. Points may be earned, deposited, redeemed, donated, or transferred into a "bank" built on the Social Rewards platform.

Two thirds of Social Rewards' seed round was funded by members of Tech Coast Angels, the largest angel network in the United States, including the TCA ACE Fund, the Angels' new rapid accelerated funding arm. Other high-profile investors include Jeff Lapin, former CEO of Starwood Hotels, Stuart Larkins, part of the Performics founding management team, Kelly Perdew, previous LinkedIn advisor, co-founder & CEO TargetClose, and winner of Apprentice 2, Mi Ventures, and K5 Venture Partners.

Many of the company's angel funding introductions were facilitated via AngelList a social network of entrepreneurs and investors.

Social Rewards combines social media, affiliate marketing, and loyalty rewards to help companies identify brand advocates and increase social engagement. The platform is now available in the United States and Japan and is written in unicode, making implementation possible in any country or language. The startup is already seeing revenue in both markets and has recently secured six-figure contracts.

"In our initial launch market of Las Vegas, we've already achieved an 80% market share of hotel casinos using the Social Rewards program on the Strip," says Morin. "We're very pleased to also announce new client wins including Caesars Entertainment with a global roll out to 52 resorts and casinos, and an expanded presence with MGM Resorts coming out of beta from their early adoption of our platform."

Primarily in travel and hospitality now, Social Rewards has immediate plans to roll out to new markets and industries including entertainment and consumer product sectors.

At the core of Social Rewards is the ability to capture ROI from social media via a tracking URL. This capability allows companies to follow brand messages and engagement throughout the lifecycle of a tweet or Facebook post all the way to sales conversion where additional points may be awarded providing additional incentive.  Full analytics reporting of brand mentions, clickthroughs, retweets, shares, and sales conversions are available through an administrative dashboard.

About Social Rewards 
Social Rewards is a new social loyalty company based in Torrance, CA, founded by Joseph Morin and Mike Uesugi, veterans of the digital industry with a combined experience level of over 25 years. Social Rewards is a cohesive blend of social media, affiliate marketing and loyalty rewards programs rewarding consumer brand advocates with loyalty program points for social media activity. In development since late 2009 and incorporated March of 2010, Social Rewards received a seed round of angel funding from high-profile investors including Tech Coast Angel members and has 8 employees.

Related Resources:                                                                       
Social Rewards website: www.socialrewards.com
Twitter:  http://twitter.com/socialreward                           
Facebook: www.facebook.com/socialrewards             

Joseph Morin
CEO
Social Rewards
949-433-8881
[email protected]

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SOURCE Social Rewards