Topguest Raises $2M and Hefty Partners for Check-in Platform
Topguest has announced a funding round of $2 million in its Series A round, with some high profile investors. Peter Thiel, a famous Facebook invester as an advisor and founder, along with angels Ron Conway, Keith Rabois, Jeff Clavier and Naval Ravikant, participated in the round.
As another player in the very crowded market, Topguest says that what differentiates them from other competitors is ‘that it links into geo-location services already in use, instead of requiring another different check-in and offers points in already existing loyalty programs.’
Topguest offers location-based services offering deals, travel and hospitality loyalty programs that are available through your smartphone. It also features an option allowing you to synchronize services like Foursquare, Twitter, Facebook Places and Gowalla in order to increase benefits. One good example of benefits is the Frequent Flyer points users can get in exchange for their check-ins from airline company Virgin America. The check-in can be done using Topguest’s feature of linking their hospitability rewards accounts to tie check-ins to points and loyalty programs.
Similar location-based services, such as Facebook’s Places and Deals, recently launched, offer local shops and businesses to extend perks and discounts to their customers via Facebook. Facebook users will be able to find the nearest good deals only by clicking one button.
The market of location-based services is expected to grow rapidly in the next years due to the blossoming use of smartphone and mobile apps.
Since you’re here …
… We’d like to tell you about our mission and how you can help us fulfill it. SiliconANGLE Media Inc.’s business model is based on the intrinsic value of the content, not advertising. Unlike many online publications, we don’t have a paywall or run banner advertising, because we want to keep our journalism open, without influence or the need to chase traffic.The journalism, reporting and commentary on SiliconANGLE — along with live, unscripted video from our Silicon Valley studio and globe-trotting video teams at theCUBE — take a lot of hard work, time and money. Keeping the quality high requires the support of sponsors who are aligned with our vision of ad-free journalism content.
If you like the reporting, video interviews and other ad-free content here, please take a moment to check out a sample of the video content supported by our sponsors, tweet your support, and keep coming back to SiliconANGLE.
