Loop PR - Internet Giants Launch Keynoir a New Exclusive Group Buying Brand

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Launching today, Keynoir.com (http://www.keynoir.com), a new partnership of internet heavyweights, will take advantage of the surge in social networking and empower people to group together via their networks and act as bulk-purchasers in order to secure offers on lifestyle experiences. The new company is the creation of Philip Wilkinson, Kelkoo director and pioneer of the first online price comparison site in the UK, Glen Drury, former CEO of Kelkoo and VP, Yahoo! Europe and Jan Riem, a technology corporate financier. Launch offers have been secured at 2 star Michelin restaurant Tom Aikens, The Supper Club, world polo at the Hurlingham Club, dress shirts from King and Allen and an event on The Yacht, London.

?This is one of those rare occasions where the company, partners involved and the final consumer all benefit extensively from one service?

It has secured a first institutional funding of £ 1.3m from top venture capital firms Index Ventures and PROfounders Capital, the entrepreneurial venture capital firm backed by Brent Hoberman from Lastminute.com, Michael Birch from Bebo, and others. In addition, serial entrepreneurs Paul Birch and Andrej Henkler participated in the investment. Dominique Vidal from Index Ventures and Sean Seton-Rogers from PROfounders Capital will be joining the board of Keynoir.

The members-only buying club will use the funds to expand aggressively across the rest of the UK and Europe by the end of the year promoting offers to users, encouraging them to enjoy an aspirational lifestyle that, thanks to Keynoir, they will now be able to afford.

?Our members will be offered a great experience every day and become part of a wave of people able to ?upgrade? their whole lifestyle" said co-founder, Philip Wilkinson.

?People are becoming increasing weary and cynical of the whole discount marketplace and are looking for something more fulfilling. We?re preparing to change this culture by bringing truly desirable experiences within easy reach - it?s like we?re giving hard working professionals the opportunity to eat chocolate, but without the guilt.?

The company is targeting 23 ? 35 year old professionals and is creating purchasing deals with major-players across the travel, food, retail and entertainment sectors. It has a strict selection process choosing only those companies that meet its quality criteria. The tightly targeted nature of this approach offers a brand new route to market for retailers; peer-to-peer action allows companies the opportunity to fill capacity in the downturn and grow their businesses, without heavy advertising costs.

?As purchasers pledge their interest up front, it gives businesses a great way to acquire new customers and only pay on results. Thanks to the attractiveness of the model, we?ve already lined up deals at some of the most compelling venues in London and we?re still on the lookout to add more businesses to our portfolio,? co-founder, Glen Drury added.

Brent Hoberman underscores the impact of Keynoir?s innovative ?social purchasing model?: ?This is an exciting phase in the internet?s development. In the last decade, shopping has been all about search - this decade, Keynoir will lead a new generation of social buying which will effectively connect the offline and online worlds.?

Promotion through the blogosphere and social media networks has already given exclusive membership to a select group of buyers and this will be expanded upon launch.

?This is one of those rare occasions where the company, partners involved and the final consumer all benefit extensively from one service,? Brent concluded.

-Ends-

Biographies

Glen Drury

Glen is an experienced executive with a proven track record whether as a business starter or as the entrepreneurial spirit in large organizations. His extensive network includes technology, retail, automotive and travel industry professionals. Prior to co-founding Keynoir, Glen was CEO of Kelkoo, helping the company rebuild itself. Leading the carve-out of the business from Yahoo! created many challenging opportunities which culminated in finding new funding, setting the company on a new strategic path, and returning it to profit. Before Kelkoo, Glen held several roles at Yahoo! the last being Regional Vice President for Yahoo! Europe with responsibility for UK, IE, NL, NO, SE, DK, and FI. When he moved into the RVP role, he gave up his product responsibilities (which included the Cars and the Travel Channels that he had led) to be in the European top 3 audiences. A graduate of Grand Canyon University with a BA in International Business management, he also studied French and Art.

Phil Wilkinson
Aged just 21, Phil launched his first business after studying for his degree in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence and Psychology at Nottingham University. As the founder of Shopgenie (now Kelkoo.co.uk) , Phil became the first person to launch an online price comparison site in the UK , sparking the initial growth of this now booming sector. He later became Commercial Manager at Telewest Broadband (now Virgin Media) and was responsible for the company?s wireless broadband proposition and Internet applications. He left to pursue another entrepreneurial ambition founding Genie Ventures, a vertical comparison engine network now covering multiple sites and with a multi-million pound turnover. During this period, he became a seed investor and marketing strategy advisor for the online outdoor retailer webtogs.co.uk, which has grown in under two year from a ground-roots small operation to a household name in its sector. The London-based entrepreneur later founded the product research engine crowdstorm.co.uk, which helps people find the right product to buy through an aggregation of knowledge from online experts. Aside from his penchant for the finer things in life - fine wine, gourmet food, and gadgets to name a few - 32 year old Philip is a keen ?angel? investor in budding businesses.

Andrej Henkler
Former Bertelsmann Executive, TV-Turnaround Leader and serial entrepreneur. Since 2005 successful entrepreneurial investor in High-Tech and Digital Media Start-Ups in the US and Europe. He is or has been involved in numerous successful investments including Worldmate, Palantir Technologies, Studio Babelsberg and Kiala.

Investor background
PROfounders Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm backed by successful entrepreneurs, with a focus on the digital media and technology space. PROfounders? investors number some of the best-known players within the digital media space, including Michael Birch (founder of Bebo) and Brent Hoberman (founder of lastminute.com). The fund?s aim is to invest in and support new businesses with capital plus proactive advice and expertise in order to create long-term value and promote entrepreneurism. Founded in July 2009, PROfounders Capital?s focus is on capital efficient, early-stage companies operating in the digital media and technology space. PROfounders looks for companies that have disciplined and innovative management and which address large potential markets, using technologies that are new or clearly differentiated from any incumbents to generate identifiable revenue streams that can be scaled. www.profounderscapital.com

About Index Ventures
Index Ventures is a leading European venture capital firm active in technology venture investing since 1996. The firm is dedicated to helping top entrepreneurial teams in the Information Technology and Life Science sectors build their companies into market defining global leaders. The firm has offices in Geneva, London and Jersey and focuses on investments from seed through growth stage companies. Exits of note include Last.fm (CBS), MySQL (Sun), PanGenetics (Abbott), Playfish (EA) and Skype (eBay). For more information, please visit www.indexventures.com.

This information was brought to you by Cision http://www.cisionwire.com