Pictured Popdeem CEO Richard Whelan and Gavin Hayes
Dublin-based social rewards player Popdeem has raised €500,000 in a new investment to drive its move into the US market via New York.
The latest investment, led by Delta Partners and Enterprise Ireland, along with several angel investors, brings to €1.1m the total funding raised by Popdeem to date.
As well as opening its first office in New York City, Popdeem will continue to expand its Dublin operation, and is now hiring for a number of roles in product management, software engineering, and marketing.
CEO Richard Whelan told Siliconrepublic.com that, additionally, Popdeem is piloting a new version of its mobile SDK, which significantly reduces the amount of time involved in onboarding a new customer.
‘Popdeem offers an innovative way to turn existing customers into brand advocates through rewards and competitions’
– RICHARD WHELAN, POPDEEM
The average integration time has now been reduced from two days to less than 10 minutes. This version is currently in beta and will be released later in September as part of Popdeem’s US launch.
The future of brand experiences
Popdeem’s social marketing platform gives brands the ability to identify their most influential customers on social networks and to reward them for sharing their brand experiences online.
The solution, which can be integrated into any existing mobile app, is now live in more than 10 countries, including Ireland, the UK, Turkey, Australia, New Zealand and the US.
“Generating attention on social networks has become highly competitive for brands all over the world,” said Whelan.
“Popdeem offers an innovative way to turn existing customers into brand advocates through rewards and competitions, helping brands drive word of mouth marketing online, and importantly, to generate a return on their social marketing efforts”.
“With this most recent round of funding, we plan to open a new office in New York City later this year, where we can directly manage relationships with existing US customers and build a sales team to facilitate growth and the acquisitions of new customers,” said Whelan.
