IFeelGoods grabs $6.5 million for Facebook rewards

Facebook Credits, the social network's de facto currency, can be used by brands to reward customers

Everybody loves incentives and everybody’s on Facebook, so why not create a promotions platform that puts those ideas to work?

IFeelGoods, a company that rewards users with Facebook Credits for certain actions online, announced Tuesday that it has secured a $6.5 million Series A round of funding led by Idinvest Partners, with participation from seed round investor Tugboat Ventures.

The social marketing company helps companies power their promotions by rewarding users with Facebook Credits, usable on over 200 social games and apps on the social network. All the most prominent developers, including Zynga and Playdom, have signed agreements with Facebook to accept the virtual currency exclusively in their games, and hundreds of millions of people play those games.

So there’s clearly a demand for the currency.

Taking advantage of that demand, IFeelGoods enables brands to reward customers with Facebook Credits for various actions, like purchasing something online, following the brand’s Twitter account, signing up for a newsletter or entering a contest. The credits are redeemable instantly, meaning customers feel rewarded instantly, a positive experience meant to bolster brand loyalty.

Just launched last September, IFeelGoods has picked up more than 20 clients, including 1-800-Flowers.com, Gap, Shopping.com and the Dallas Mavericks.

"Ifeelgoods allows retailers and brands to reduce the growing costs of promotions, incentives and online advertising while measurably engaging customers in social media. And for once, this can be scaled globally thanks to the worldwide adoption of Facebook and Facebook Credits," said Guillaume Lautour, partner at Idinvest.

The new funding will be used to expand the company’s product offerings as well as to push into more verticals and more countries. Based in Menlo Park, Calif., IFeelGoods already has offices in McLean, Va. and Paris, France.