Customer loyalty startup Perx secures Series A

• Funding round led by Golden Gate Ventures, includes Eduardo Saverin as investor
• Money to be used to develop new enterprise platform for customer engagement

 
CUSTOMER engagement and loyalty platform provider Perx said it has closed its Series A round, having raised a single-digit-million worth in Singapore dollars. [S$1 = US$0.71]
 
Golden Gate Ventures led the round, joined by investors like Facebook cofounder Eduardo Saverin as well as Perx chief executive officer Anna Gong and chief technology officer Rob Roach.
 
Two other existing shareholders also contributed to this round, but the Singapore-based startup declined to name them.
 
This is the first investment into Perx by Gong and Roach since they joined the team last year. Cofounders Andrew Roth and Jon Sugihara have left the company but remain on its board of directors.
 
A shift of focus
 
Perx currently has over 400,000 registered users and partnerships with over 200 merchants in Singapore.
 
The funding will be used to drive its new vision and focus. The company said it would be expanding beyond its mobile loyalty app to begin managing end-to-end customer engagement processes for enterprises.
 
This includes offering tools such as marketing and customer data analytics on the user experience.
 
“We are now making the platform behind it scalable and available to app developers and enterprises as a plug-in solution to integrate customer engagement and rewards management as-a-service,” Roach (pic) said in a statement.
 
“Recognising the value and importance of intelligent customer engagement and data analytics in today’s market, we are committed to shaping Perx into the hub connecting consumers and businesses,” Gong said.
 
Having been in the in the market for four years, Perx has what it takes to make the expanded focus a success, according to Golden Gate Ventures founding partner Jeffrey Paine.
 
“We are confident the team will satisfy the customer relationship management needs of other businesses with their proven track record and passion in this new strategic direction,” he said in the statement issued by Perx.
 
“They are moving in the right direction with this new vision, and I believe Perx will be the game-changer in the customer engagement arena,” added Saverin.
 
Despite the new direction, Perx said it has not forgotten its current customers.
 
“This round of funding will be used to develop and introduce the enterprise platform and SDK (software development kit) solution, besides continuing to grow our existing and successful business around the Perx app,” Gong (pic) told Digital News Asia (DNA) via email.
 
It also plans to expand to Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia and “other parts of Asia through a combination of partners and our own efforts,” she said, adding that with these plans, Perx is “open to raising further capital in 2016.”
 
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