Benji raises $6.25M seed

Benji disclosed a $6.25 million seed round on May 19, saying the capital will be used to expand infrastructure for loyalty partnerships. Preface Ventures and Atinc led the round, and Great North Ventures, M25 and Hyde Park Venture Partners also participated, according to the company’s announcement. (finance.yahoo.com) Benji describes itself as a universal API for loyalty partnerships that lets brands connect rewards programs through a single integration. The company said the new money will support engineering and go-to-market hiring in Chicago and New York. ### Which company raised the money, and when was it announced? Benji announced the seed financing on May 19 in a company statement distributed through Business Wire and carried by Yahoo Finance. (finance.yahoo.com) Tech Funding News separately reported the round on May 20, and social posts about the deal circulated on May 21. The company is based in Chicago and New York. The startup was founded in 2023 by Nick Anastasiades, Jon Elron and Arik Gaisler, according to Tech Funding News and Start Midwest. Those founders previously built 2ndKitchen, which was acquired by REEF Technology in 2021, the reports said. (finance.yahoo.com) ### What does Benji actually sell to brands and retailers? Benji said its product is a single API that allows loyalty programs to connect across industries for earning, redemption, transfer and co-acquisition relationships. The company said that setup is meant to replace custom integrations that can otherwise take months or longer to build. (finance.yahoo.com) Tech Funding News reported that Benji pitches the product as a way to reduce loyalty partnership integration from months to days. In its announcement, the company said airlines, hospitality groups, retailers, financial-services companies and consumer brands are all using partnerships more heavily to drive customer acquisition, retention and engagement. (techfundingnews.com) ### Who backed the round? Preface Ventures and Atinc co-led the seed round, Benji said. Great North Ventures, M25 and Hyde Park Venture Partners also invested, according to the company statement and follow-on coverage. Startup Researcher and other deal trackers described the financing as seed capital to expand Benji’s engineering and sales or go-to-market functions. (finance.yahoo.com) Benji itself said the funds will be used to keep building integrations across its loyalty partnership network. ### Which brands are already connected to the network? Benji said its network includes JetBlue’s loyalty program as well as programs from CookUnity, 1-800-Flowers and Chip City. (techfundingnews.com) The company said those programs represent more than 50 million active members combined. Start Midwest noted that the 50 million figure reflects the size of partners’ loyalty bases rather than disclosed usage of Benji itself. (finance.yahoo.com) That framing came from the publication’s description of the company’s customer footprint. ### What problem is Benji saying this funding will solve? Nick Anastasiades, a Benji co-founder, told Tech Funding News that loyalty teams want partnerships but often lack “enterprise-grade infrastructure” to launch them quickly. (startupresearcher.com) He said the industry still relies on a large amount of custom work behind the scenes, and that Benji built its product to remove that friction. (finance.yahoo.com) Benji said in its funding announcement that legacy infrastructure behind loyalty programs has struggled to keep pace as companies push for more partnership-driven customer growth. The company’s stated use of proceeds is to expand the engineering and commercial capacity needed to add more integrations. (start-midwest.com) ### What comes next after the seed round? Chicago and New York are the two offices named in Benji’s announcement, and the company said hiring in engineering and go-to-market roles is the next step after the financing. Benji also said it will continue building integrations across its loyalty partnership network, with Preface Ventures, Atinc and the other seed investors now on the cap table. (techfundingnews.com) (finance.yahoo.com)