Friday, May 21, 2010

RewardsNow Gets $7.5 Million Investment from Edison Venture Fund

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Leading Financial Services and Loyalty Program Provider RewardsNOW Receives $7.5 Million Investment from Edison Venture Fund

DOVER, N.H.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--RewardsNOW has finalized a $7.5 million investment from Edison Venture Fund, further positioning the customer loyalty and financial services provider for client growth and expansion of the services it offers.
“The investment will accelerate RewardsNOW’s ability to broadly expand its program capabilities and support to meet client needs”
RewardsNOW provides customer loyalty programs to more than 300 financial institutions. Founded in 1997, RewardsNOW designs, implements and manages turnkey direct marketing and loyalty programs for the full range of financial services including credit cards, debit cards, loans, deposits and online banking.
RewardsNOW CEO, Steven VanFleet, called the timing of this investment “perfect from a market perspective,” adding that RewardsNOW is seeing a strong resurgence in financial institutions seeking loyalty and reward solutions as the economy strengthens. “The investment will accelerate RewardsNOW’s ability to broadly expand its program capabilities and support to meet client needs,” VanFleet said.
“The next generation of loyalty programs requires a provider who can efficiently and cost-effectively integrate the latest offerings surrounding enterprise loyalty, merchant-funded rewards, and broad-based redemption options,” said VanFleet. “This must be supported by world-class expert consulting and a full array of consumer communication tools and channels. This investment allows us to continue to meet that challenge.”
Michael Balmuth, Edison Venture Fund General Partner, and Rick Auletta, Edison Director Network member, will join RewardsNOW’s Board of Directors. Auletta is Vice President of Sales for Edison portfolio company, IPP. VanFleet said Edison’s strategic counsel and experience at accelerating the growth of financial technology companies will be instrumental to RewardsNOW’s success.
“We have been impressed by the vision and strong leadership, as evidenced by RewardsNOW’s impressive growth and customer satisfaction,” stated Balmuth, “and look forward to our role in helping to build on that record of performance.”
Edison has invested in 33 financial technology businesses. Active portfolio companies include Billtrust, FolioDynamix, Gain Capital, Liberty Tax, Neat, Portico, Scivantage and TraderTools. Past investments also included Best Software, DPM, EdgeTrade, E-Transport and Princeton Financial Systems.
About RewardsNOW
RewardsNOW is a premier provider of marketing services for the financial industry. The company’s turnkey loyalty solutions include configurable web-based loyalty platform, marketing communications, analytics/ROI reporting, rewards catalog/fulfillment, merchant network management, design and program management/consultation and customer support. These products and services generate incremental profits from increased member acquisition, increased product usage, and lower customer attrition rates. RewardsNOW is based in Dover, New Hampshire. For more information, call 800.240.4814, ext. 232, or visit www.rewardsnow.com.
About Edison Venture Fund
Established in 1986, Edison partners with entrepreneurs, service providers and other financing sources to build successful companies. Edison provides capital and value-added services to late stage ($5 to 20 million revenue), information technology businesses. Initial investments range from $5 to 8 million. Edison typically serves as the sole or lead investor in financings up to $10 million. In addition to providing expansion capital, Edison funds management buyouts, recapitalizations, spinouts and secondary stock purchases.
Edison’s investment professionals are based in Lawrenceville, NJ, New York, NY, Needham, MA and McLean, VA. Industry specialties include application software, communications, financial technology, interactive marketing, and healthcare IT. Edison’s successes include ACT!, Axent, Dendrite, Mapics, POMS, Visual Networks, VirtualEdge, Vocus and many other information technology leaders, which have a combined market value exceeding $5 billion. Edison currently has $550 million under management and is actively making new investments. www.edisonventure.com.

Contacts

RewardsNOW

Anne Gaudette, 603-516-3440 ext. 232

agaudette@rewardsnow.com

or

Dux Public Relations

Kristine Tanzillo, 903-865-1078

Kristine@duxpr.com
Permalink: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100521005121/en/Leading-Financial-Services-Loyalty-Program-Provider-RewardsNOW


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