Adored Raises $2.3M

According to the New Hampshire Union Leader, Adored received $2.3 million in new funding and plans to double its full-time staff in the next six months, its CEO said Wednesday.

The Manchester-based company also has signed up more than 10,000 users and projects to hit 100,000 within the next year, according to Adored CEO Cory von Wallenstein.

Investors include five current or former executives of Dyn, a Manchester technology company where von Wallenstein previously worked.

The money will be used to hire more engineers and sales people – eight over the next six months. The company currently employs seven people full time and three part time, he said.

He declined to say what stake in the company the $2.3 million investment represented.

At participating merchants, a small beacon sends out a low-energy Bluetooth signal that detects phones that have the downloaded the Adored app. Customers must turn on their iPhone’s Bluetooth and location to participate. Customers can keep their phones in their pockets, and every time they go they will be rewarded.

The company isn’t profitable yet but is focused on growing the number of users, ‘getting into more places and not on revenue,’ von Wallenstein said.

Other investors includes Kepha Partners, Boston Seed Capital, Matrix Partners and Borealis Ventures as well as prominent Boston angel investors.

Adored has inked deals with about 65 merchants from North Country ski areas to Cambridge, Mass. About a third of them are in Manchester, he said.

He said Adored has focused on Manchester, Portsmouth, the Mount Washington Valley and Portland, Maine.

The app uses a ‘random identifier’ and not an email or password to track users.

‘We know the difference from you being a beginning skier and an expert skier,’ he said. ‘We don’t know your name.’

Merchants receive data, including foot traffic totals and information on how often a customer visits.

The Common Man family of restaurants uses the app at its restaurants and other businesses.

‘Tailoring the loyalty experience in real time based on a customer’s anonymous behavior is the key differentiator for Adored, and we’re now introducing the Adored loyalty experience to over 20 locations in the Common Man family,’ said Erica Murphy, Common Man’s director of communications and community.

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