Chicago-Based Rocketmiles Receives $2M in First Round Funding

CHICAGO, April 29, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Chicago-based Rocketmiles (www.rocketmiles.com) today announced that is has raised $2 million in funding led by Atlas Venture.  Founded in 2012, Rocketmiles is a hotel booking site geared toward travelers who want to stockpile miles for dream vacations, from an anniversary trip to Paris to a family spring break getaway to Key West.  The company made its public debut earlier this month following a successful two month beta.

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The $2 million convertible note financing is the first round of external fundraising for Rocketmiles. Participants include Atlas Venture, Link Ventures, and Peterson Ventures and several angel investors in the travel and loyalty industry.

"Until now, the easiest way for travelers to earn reward miles was from flights and credit cards. Rocketmiles was created to offer travelers a lucrative new option that allows them to stockpile miles when booking hotel rooms so they can save up for free vacations faster," said Jay Hoffmann, CEO and Cofounder of Rocketmiles and former Managing Director at Mileage Plus.  "Rocketmiles customers can book rooms at desirable premium hotels for similar rates as found on popular online travel agencies, and at the same time earn an average of 3,000 reward miles per night.  For the frequent traveler, that adds up to 90,000 extra miles per year that they can use to fly nearly anywhere in the world."

"Rocketmiles has developed a creative new way to add value to online travel, the largest e-commerce category. The unique business model and experienced founding members are impressive and we are very excited to be part of this team," said Ryan Moore, Partner, Atlas Venture.

Rocketmiles will use the funding to invest in marketing and customer acquisition as well as to expand its airline and hotel partnerships.

About Rocketmiles

Rocketmiles was founded in 2012 to allow frequent fliers to earn previously unheard of quantities of frequent flier miles and points when booking rooms at high-quality hotels.  For consumers, Rocketmiles makes saving up for incredible vacations faster and easier.  For hotels, Rocketmiles means being able to offer high-value customers inventory that would have otherwise gone unsold — without weakening the brand through public discounting.  Based in Chicago and backed by top-tier strategic venture firms, the company is founded by travel and loyalty veterans Jay Hoffmann, Bjorn Larsen, and Kris Helenek.  For more information, visit www.rocketmiles.com and follow on Twitter @rocket_miles.

SOURCE Rocketmiles

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