Belly, a US-based customer loyalty platform for small businesses, which provides an app in place of loyalty cards, has raised a $12.1m series B-1 funding round from investors including 7-Ventures, the recently established venture capital arm of convenience store chain 7-Eleven, US-based network systems company Cisco Systems, and venture capital firms New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Andreessen Horowitz, DAG Ventures and Lightbank.
The series B-1 round brings the total amount raised by Belly to $28m. Previously, Belly secured a $10m round of venture capital financing from Andreessen Horowitz in 2012.
The latest funding will be used by Belly to expand its core product offering, hire more staff, and increase the company’s presence in its existing markets.
Belly represents the second investment for 7-Ventures, which was established this summer in order to support the corporate strategy of 7-Eleven. Raja Doddala, 7-Eleven’s senior director of new business ventures and vice president of portfolio management for 7-Ventures, said that 7-Ventures liked Belly’s highly engaged user base as well as its use of analytics and data. 7-Eleven also wished to see how a loyalty program would work across a network of retailers.
Tom Grossi, partner at new investor NEA, said: “We are impressed with the adoption of Belly’s core product of customer loyalty, but it is the depth of the consumer interaction Belly fosters that most excites us. Belly’s in-store tablets are becoming a gateway for its merchants to initiate lasting connections with their customers.”
Logan LaHive, chief executive officer of Belly, said: “We view this round as validation for what we have built. But we remain fully aware of all that we still need to accomplish.”
Belly was founded by Logan LaHive in August 2011.