WAYNE, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Safeguard Scientifics, Inc. (NYSE:SFE) is backing successful entrepreneur Ned Moore in his new venture, Clutch Holdings, Inc., the only mobile commerce platform that unifies gifting, loyalty programs and shopping by bringing the most relevant information to consumers and the most targeted customers to merchants. Safeguard led the Series B financing with $5.0 million, and also participated in the Series A financing in early 2013 with $500,000, which brings Safeguard’s primary ownership to 23%.
“We are excited to be supporting Ned Moore, a successful Safeguard entrepreneur, along with co-founders Andy O’Dell and Dan Guy and the rest of the team at Clutch,” said Erik B. Rasmussen, managing director, technology at Safeguard, who will be joining Clutch’s board of directors. “Clutch is capitalizing on the convergence of mobile commerce with offline and online commerce by providing a platform that unifies offline, online, and mobile loyalty and gifting into one platform. This allows retailers to launch loyalty programs seamlessly to their customers, whether they are shopping in the store, online or with their smartphone. This is critical because studies show that retailers with loyalty and gifting programs see 46% more purchases than retailers that don't have loyalty and gifting programs. As a result, it’s essential for retailers to launch loyalty and gifting programs across all of the customer touch points, especially mobile.”
Previously, Ned Moore was co-founder, chairman and CEO of Portico Systems, which provided enterprise software solutions into the healthcare payer market. Portico was a Safeguard partner company from 2006 to 2011, when it was acquired by McKesson for $90 million, in cash, generating a 4x cash-on-cash return for Safeguard.
“I have always been interested in mobile technology,” said Moore, co-founder, chairman and CEO of Clutch. “After Portico was acquired by McKesson in July 2011, the opportunity to start Clutch presented itself. With support from our angel investors, we launched our mobile app in December 2012 and have subsequently acquired two companies to expand our product offering through the Series A and Series B financings. We are excited to have the team at Safeguard on board. They are a proven team with deep operational expertise that I know will drive value for Clutch’s bottom line.”
Headquartered in the Greater Philadelphia area, Clutch will use proceeds to further develop its mobile commerce platform. Additionally, Clutch acquired ProfitPoint, a leading supplier of loyalty and gifting. ProfitPoint’s configurable loyalty platform, which unifies online and offline loyalty programs in one solution, together with Clutch’s mobile commerce capabilities will provide clients with an end-to-end platform that will enable them to reach their customers via in-store, online and mobile channels. ProfitPoint brings more than 3,000 merchant clients to the Clutch ecosystem, as well as a merchant card processing platform.
Clutch touches the entire spectrum of loyalty and gifting e-commerce for retailers. Clutch provides B2B clients with a horizontally integrated digital marketing platform along with white labeling services. For B2C customers, Clutch offers a mobile app that features a mobile wallet that holds gift cards, loyalty cards, and coupon information, as well as a gifting solution that enables a consumer to buy and send gift cards virtually. According to Transparency Market Research Group, the global mobile wallet market is expected to reach $1.6 trillion by 2018, growing at a CAGR of 30.7% from 2012 to 2018.
Clutch represents the fourth new partner company that has joined Safeguard’s portfolio in 2013. Others include Crescendo Bioscience, Sotera Wireless, and Pneuron.
About Clutch Holdings, Inc.
Clutch provides the only mobile platform that unites shopping, loyalty programs and gifting, delivering the most relevant offers to consumers and the most targeted customers to merchants. With its proprietary recommendation engine, the Clutch mobile app enables consumers to get the best deals, give the best gifts, and share it all with their friends and family in a single place. For more information, please visit www.clutch.com, “Follow” Clutch on Twitter @ClutchShopping and/or “Like” Clutch on Facebook.
About Safeguard Scientifics
Founded in 1953 and based in the Greater Philadelphia area, Safeguard Scientifics, Inc. (NYSE:SFE) is celebrating 60 years of fostering innovation and entrepreneurship. Today, Safeguard provides growth capital and operational support to healthcare and technology companies in medtech, healthtech, specialty pharmaceuticals, financial technology, digital media, and Enterprise 3.0. For more information, please visit our website at www.safeguard.com.
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