Betapond, Ireland's only Facebook Preferred Developer Consultant has raised EUR1.15m in venture capital funding. The company will use the funds to expand into new markets, broaden its technology platform and to double staff levels to 25 within the next year. The syndicated funding has been provided by the Bank of Ireland Start-up and Emerging Sectors Equity Fund, managed by Delta Partners, Irrus Investments, and Enterprise Ireland.

Betapond was founded in 2009 and has offices in Waterford, Dublin, London and California. Betapond's Facebook apps and retail marketing products are used by the retail, entertainment and tourism sectors to incentivise consumers to generate social recommendations. For retailers the apps help to increase footfall through instant rewards for consumers who interact with the brand on a smart phone in-store. Betapond customers include Paddy Power, Tourism Ireland, Visit Britain and a number of leading London & European advertising agencies. Betapond is one of only 90 Facebook Preferred Developer Consultants globally and is currently the only one in Ireland.

The funding announcement follows a one-year R&D agreement signed last September with the Telecommunications, Software & Systems Group for a social media based retail marketing product, with funding from Enterprise Ireland.

Betapond CEO, Declan Kennedy believes that the convergence of smart phones, social media and location information opens up new and effective marketing mechanics for retailers to engage consumers whilst in-store. He says 'The retail industry is fine. It's just the physical stores' model that isn't working. We help our clients to effectively capture eyeballs and grow relationships with customers in a seamless way that enhances the in-store shopping experience using social media. This fundraising will allow us to accelerate into new markets and move to the next level with customers and channel partners.'

About Betapond

Betapond is a privately held Irish hi-tech company with offices in Ireland, the UK and the US. The company focuses on converging social media technologies and innovative marketing techniques to deliver effective social media marketing products and services. Its clients include leading advertising agencies in Europe along with blue chip brands in the retail, food & beverage, entertainment and destination marketing industries.

Betapond is a leading industry player in social media based footfall marketing, with an emerging marketing platform that enables brands and retailers to grow footfall through instant rewards for consumers who interact with a brand on their smartphone whilst in store. Betapond is a Facebook Preferred Developer Consultant, which means it has demonstrated the ability to understand the social mechanics and technical possibilities of Facebook apps and are experienced having built numerous Facebook integrations.