Founded

Address

500friends Inc
100 First Street
Suite 2250
San Francisco, CA 94105
United States

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500friends Inc
115 Sansome Street
15th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94104
United States

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KANDO id: 437269

Corporate information

Official name
500friends Inc
Also known as
500 Friends
Registration country

Official identities

US CIK 0001544044

Company type

The best loyalty and retention marketing partner for CMOs.

Overview

Merkle Loyalty Solutions, formerly 500friends,  is a leader in customer loyalty marketing solutions. Clients depend on us to help them develop and execute a differentiated and impactful customer loyalty strategy that delivers the business results they expect. Merkle Loyalty Solutions is recognized by Forrester Research as a Strong Performer in The Forrester Wave™: Customer Loyalty Solutions, Q3 2017, and as a Leader and received the highest overall score in The Forrester Wave™: Customer Loyalty Solutions For Midsize Organizations, Q1 2016. The end-to-end loyalty services Merkle Loyalty Solutions offer include:

  • Strategic consulting
  • SaaS loyalty platform named LoyaltyPlus™
  • Platform integration
  • Program management and support
  • Advanced analytics

Merkle is a leading data-driven, technology-enabled, global performance marketing agency that specializes in the delivery of unique, personalized customer experiences across platforms and devices. The agency’s heritage in data, technology, and analytics forms the foundation for its unmatched skills in understanding consumer insights that drive people-based marketing strategies. With more than 4,100 employees, the Merkle team is based in Columbia, MD, with 16 additional offices in the US and 8 offices in Europe and Asia. In 2016, the agency joined the Dentsu Aegis Network.



Relation

Funding rounds

Acquisition


( )

Profile Country Notes
Merkle Inc Initial investment. Led the round.

Series B USD 5,000,000


USD 5,000,000 ( )

Profile Country Notes
Crosslink Capital Inc Venture capital firm with an asset management business that continues into the public equity market for fast-growing companies. Initial investment.
Fung Capital USA Initial investment.
Intel Capital Corp Intel's strategic investment program for equity investments/ acquisitions to grow the Internet economy in support of Intel's strategic interests. Follow-on investment.

Series A USD 4,500,000


USD 4,500,000 ( )

Profile Country Notes
Crosslink Capital Inc Venture capital firm with an asset management business that continues into the public equity market for fast-growing companies. Initial investment.
Justin Yoshimura Individual investor. Initial investment.
Matt Gilbert Individual investor. Initial investment.
Intel Capital Corp Intel's strategic investment program for equity investments/ acquisitions to grow the Internet economy in support of Intel's strategic interests. Follow-on investment.

N/A


( )

Profile Country
Jeff Fluhr Individual investor.
Paul Sethi Individual investor.

Seed


( )

Profile Country Notes
Crosslink Capital Inc Venture capital firm with an asset management business that continues into the public equity market for fast-growing companies. Initial investment.
Fung Capital USA Initial investment.
Great Oaks Venture Capital Initial investment.
Intel Capital Corp Intel's strategic investment program for equity investments/ acquisitions to grow the Internet economy in support of Intel's strategic interests. Initial investment.
Wasabi Ventures LLC Initial investment.
Y Combinator American technology startup accelerator. Initial investment.

Seed USD 1,400,000


USD 1,400,000 ( )

Profile Country
Implistic Capital
Quest Venture Partners (Quest Ventures)
Y Combinator American technology startup accelerator.
Alex Le Individual investor.
Anurag (Anu) Nigam Individual investor.
Babak Nivi Individual investor.
Chris Yeh Individual investor.
Dan Martin Individual investor.
David Li Individual investor.
Eric Chen Individual investor.
Jeff Fluhr Individual investor.
Justin Yoshimura Individual investor.
Naval Ravikant Individual investor.
Richard Chen Individual investor.
Steve Newcomb Individual investor.

Profile Country Notes
Ovo Fund Initial investment. Exited. (Trade sale)


Investment activity status
Active investor

Team

Employee Position
Hong Hu (founder)
Justin Yoshimura (founder)
Director
Responsibilities: Executive Officer

Past employees

Selected Products / Customers

Financials