The Helsinki-based growth stage startup Bonusway today announced €6.9 million in funding, which is a mixture of equity and debt financing. The fresh capital comes from Buran VC and Visionplus.
The e-commerce loyalty service Bonusway was founded in 2011 and offers cash rewards and online shopping inspiration for consumers in Finland, Sweden, Turkey and Russia. For e-commerce businesses, Bonusway offers a new kind of loyalty programme to make existing customers come back and reach new ones.
Tatu Koistinen, the CEO and co-founder of Bonusway stated: “The investment will be used for marketing to further boost the user acquisition and retention of Bonusway. The company has reached its previous operational targets and the latest investment round will enable us to be ready for wider expansion. Bonusway’s revenue is growing 15% monthly, which proves that there is a need for an online loyalty program which offers users actual money and at the same time it acts as a key driver for growth for online merchants.”
€3.7 million of the current funding round was raised as equity funding from Buran VC and Visionplus. Buran VC is a Central and Eastern European venture fund founded in 2012, which invests in e-commerce services, online media, mobile internet, communitainment and SaaS.
Michael Szalontay, Managing Partner at Buran VC said: “We are delighted to become part of the Bonusway journey. We believe that this company is destined for success in its markets and we are a very good fit for each other, since our core geography is the same.”
The Helsinki-based venture fund Visionplus specialises in digitalisation and was the first institutional investor for Bonusway. Visionplus’ other investments include e.g. Futurefly and Optofidelity.
The merchant-independent platform Bonusway is already the market leader in Northern and Eastern Europe with over 1.5 million users and 3,500 e-commerce partners worldwide.
