Capital Chaos

Jackpot Rewards (Newton, MA) has raised an astounding $16.7M in a Series A led by some pretty big individuals including Jack Connors, founder of Hill Holiday; Peter Lynch of Fidelity Investments, Chuck Clough, former chief investment strategist for Merrill Lynch; and Tom McDonnel, CEO of DST Systems.   These guys are hardcore business leaders and philanthropists in their own right.

Jackpot Rewards provides consumers with the most cash back on online purchases, as well as exclusive deals and discounts. Members are automatically entered into three drawings every week for Jackpots of over $100 Million, plus a $1 Million drawing every Sunday in which a winner is guaranteed. Jackpot Rewards also gives big by donating 50 percent of its profits to children’s charities.

The company has instituted a very cool program called Jack pot Shopping that gives members cash back on more than 20 million items at more than 550 of the most popular online retailers such as Apple, Barnes & Noble, Best Buy, Land’s End and Target; and savings of up to 50 percent on the Deal of the Day and other exclusive deals and discounts. The system also have a very unique classifieds section where member can list up to 10 classifieds that receive priority placement at the top of every search result from more than eight million listings from across the Web.
 
The philanthropic component of the site comes into play because Jackpot Rewards will donate 50 percent of its profits to charities that are dedicated to improving the health, well-being, and educational opportunities of children across America and around the world. Jackpot Rewards will make its first $1 million charitable donation this year (Founder Jim Miller has pledged to make this donation on behalf of the company as a way to demonstrate the company’s dedication to these causes.)

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The funding behind Jackpot Rewards is ripe with some big leaders in today’s business community and philanthropy.   

Jack Connors is a major power broker from the Boston area who helped co-found Hill Holiday and making it a top tier advertising and communications agency.  After selling Hill Holiday to Interpublic in 1998, Connors was the beneficiary of the transaction.  It was at Hill Holiday that Jack was well known in the Boston area for his philanthropic efforts as well as his business acumen. He has used the considerable talent and resources of Hill, Holliday to make a difference in the Greater Boston community through pro bono work for dozens of non-profit and charitable organizations. In 2004 was the recipient of the John Joseph Moakley Public Service Award.  There is a great expose on Jack Connors which was done in June, 2007 by the Boston Globe and can be found here.  It’s a great read and gives a really good insight into the man behind the investment.