Prodege, the parent company to breakout online rewards community Swagbucks, has grown its business organically since launching in 2008. The Los Angeles-based company has delivered more than $60 million in consumer rewards across hundreds of ecommerce stores, incentivizing consumers to shop within the Swagbucks marketplace, engage with branded content, search within its dedicated search engine, play games, or complete surveys. The concept, which I once described as “the housewife currency,” has proven popular, enabling Swagbucks to operate profitably since 2010 and generated $53 million in 2013 revenues, up 51 percent year-over-year.
Today, Swagbucks announced that it’s ready to pour gasoline on that fire.
The heretofore bootstrapped company has raised $60 million in its first ever external funding, with the round coming entirely from Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV). The round was a combination of primary and secondary capital, meaning that founders and early employees received some payout, although the company declined to specify the breakdown.
In conjunction with the financing, Protege executive Chairman Chuck Davis, who was previously a venture partner at TCV has been appointed CEO of the company. Co-founder and prior CEO Josef Gorowitz will assume the role of president, while TCV’s Jay Hoag will join the company’s board of directors
Share This Article
