500friends, a US-based loyalty rewards platform backed by investors including semiconductor chip manufacturer Intel, has been acquired by customer relationship management company Merkle, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Details of the transaction remain undisclosed, though 500friends founder and CEO Justin Yoshimura told the WSJ the acquisition sum was an eight-figure dollar amount.
500friends raised $4.5m in a 2012 series A round that included Intel’s corporate venturing unit, Intel Capital and Crosslink Capital, before securing $5m in March 2013 from Intel Capital, Crosslink and Fung Capital, the corporate venturing arm of product sourcing company Li & Fung.
500friends, which had originally approached Merkle to raise funding for a series C round, will become fully integrated into Merkle, with all its staff retained.
Yoshimura said: “There is still no loyalty partner that is the clear choice for retailers. I want to build that business. On my own it would have taken six years to get there. With Merkle it will take three to four years. They don’t buy impulsively.”