Punchh gets $20 mln funding led by Sapphire Ventures

Digital marketing firm Punchh today said it has raised USD 20 million in funding, led by Sapphire Ventures.

The series B venture funding also saw participation from Cervin Ventures and brings the total funding raised by the company till date to USD 31 million.

Headquartered in the US, Punchh offers digital marketing solutions to retail brick-and-mortar stores and serves more than 100 restaurant chains around the world. It has a key operational facility in Jaipur, which focuses on engineering, R&D and analytics.

"With this funding, Punchh will expand its existing headcount of over 110 Indian employees by 50 per cent in 2018-19... the funding will be used to expand the company's geographical footprint and its customer base in India, Asia and other regional markets," Punchh said in a statement.

The fresh funding will also be used to expand Punchh's solutions to new industries like health and beauty, convenience stores, and gas stations as well as to roll out predictive marketing capabilities using artificial intelligence and machine learning, it added.

Punchh's clients include The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, El Pollo Loco, Pizza Hut, Quiznos, and Smashburger among others.

"As a part of our global operations, we are actively looking at several markets to expand our customer base and India is a key part of this plan. We have already initiated discussions with a few brands for the Indian market and aim to close the first tie-ups by the end of the current fiscal year," Punchh co-founder and CEO Shyam Rao said.