Rocketmiles operates an online booking service that awards airline miles to customers who book hotels through its platform. The company buys hotel rooms at lower rates and resells them at higher prices to fund the purchase of miles from airlines, focusing on hotels that offer at least 1,000 miles per booking. Since launching last spring it has expanded partner airlines from about a half-dozen to nine (planned 12 by the end of February) and grown its hotel roster from roughly 300 to about 5,000. The service has "hundreds of thousands" of users, 78% of bookings are for business travel, and the business has grown 30–40% over the past four months; an average Chicago user earns around 80,000 miles per year. With the new funding, Rocketmiles plans international expansion (including support for Aeroplan), development of a product for businesses to book rooms in bulk, increased customer acquisition, and hiring to grow headcount from about 20 to 30. Rocketmiles is a Chicago, IL-based hotel booking site founded in 2012 by Jay Hoffmann. The service allows frequent fliers to earn frequent flier miles and points when booking hotel rooms, while enabling hotels to offer inventory that would have otherwise gone unsold without public discounting. The company launched earlier that month following a two-month beta. Rocketmiles raised $2M in convertible note financing and intends to use the capital to expand its marketing and customer-acquisition efforts and to grow its airline and hotel partnerships. The financing is positioned to support customer growth and partnership development. The company operates in the travel and loyalty space and has backing from investors active in that industry.

Total raised

$9M

Funding rounds

2

Latest round

Series A

Latest activity

Jan 2014