First Data Corporation, a portfolio company of KKR, has acquired Perka, provider of a consumer loyalty programs.
Perka is a mobile marketing and consumer loyalty platform that helps small to medium-sized merchants engage their customers with location-based smartphone apps. Perka is an alternative to traditional paper and plastic card-based incentive programs. The cloud-hosted platform features merchant-validated transactions, triggered offers, mobile messaging, and retail customer relationship data for the merchant. Perka operates loyalty programs for businesses ranging from neighborhood coffee shops to modern retailers and supports merchants in all 50 US states, Canada, the UK, Australia, Africa and Latin America. Perka was founded in April 2011 and has offices in New York and Portland (www.getperka.com).
“The loyalty industry is rapidly moving from being proprietary and closed to open and interconnected. This shift opens up tremendous opportunities for small and mid-sized businesses to run virtually the same mobile marketing programs as major brands,” said Alan Chung, chief executive officer, Perka. “We’re excited to join forces with First Data to revolutionize the loyalty space and level the playing ground for smaller merchants with the Perka platform.”
First Data Corporation is a provider of electronic commerce and payment services for merchants, financial institutions and card issuers globally, with operations in 35 countries, serving over 6 million merchant locations and over 4,500 financial institutions. The company was acquired by KKR in 2007 and is headquartered in Atlanta (www.firstdata.com).
“Perka is a strong addition to the offerings we have for our merchants today and we welcome them to the First Data product family,” said Guy Chiarello, president, First Data. “Loyalty is a critical component of the seamless shopping experience that consumers are demanding as they engage with mobile phones more than ever. With Perka’s open and scalable platform, merchants of any size now have agility to customize a mobile loyalty marketing program that works for their business needs.”
KKR makes private equity, fixed income and other investments in companies in North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. The firm has $83 billion in assets under management. In addition to its New York headquarters the firm has offices in Menlo Park, San Francisco, Houston, Washington DC, London, Paris, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Beijing, Mumbai, Dubai and Sydney (www.kkr.com).
© 2013 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 10-30-13
