Super stealth Milewise raises $1.5M

The service will help users cash in their rewards and frequent flyer miles

Milewise, a super stealth service that will help users redeem their frequent flyer rewards, raised $1.5 million in debt financing, according to an SEC form filed Thursday.  

The company has been very hush-hush about its service, other than to let out the fact that it will help users figure out the most efficient and lucrative ways to cash in on their frequent flyer miles, which, apparently, if redeemed at certain times, can stretch their value. 

Eventually, the service will branch out to include other rewards programs as well, though no word yet on which ones.

Little else is known about the service at the moment, but it’s currently accepting requests for invites.  The company was founded by Sanjay Kothari, who previously acted as a project leader at Boston Consulting Group.  Before that, he was a summer associate in investment banking at JP Morgan, as well as a principal at SK Consulting. 

Kothari co-founded Milewise with Vinay Pulim, who was previously a senior software engineer at Hunch, a Web personalization service that determines what the user likes and makes recommendations based on those preferences (users start out by creating an account and answering 20 questions about their likes and preferences).  

Pulim was also the co-founder of Reble.fm (acquired by Playlist.com in 2008) as well as the co-founder of Isova, which was acquired by JP Mobile in 2002 and later by Motorola in 2007.

Among its investors, the company lists David S. Kidder, co-founder and CEO of Clickable, an online advertising solution. 

Interesting factoid: Kidder also founded The Intellectual Devotional, a series of books that offer secular versions of the traditional religious devotional.  They’re pretty cool—I’ve read one.  The books feature 365 lessons (you read one each day) on everything from literature, American history, and culture, to biographies, science, and medicine. 

The Milewise founders have not said when the service will go live.