Three years after expansion Punchh is acquired for $500MM
The Problem
Punchh is an industry-leading engagement platform that personalizes customer service. Named after traditional discount punch cards, the digital marketing solutions company started 10 years ago with a vision to engage customers in meaningful loyalty programs.
Punchh’s revolutionary platform allows retail locations to really get to know their consumers. The platform is used in more than 50,000 retail chains (like Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and Quiznos) and serves over over 150 million monthly active users.
“Brands need to know their consumers, and today they don’t,” explains Punchh’s Global HR & Talent Leader Shailesh Nivsarkar. “We are looking at individual preferences, so we can establish personalized offers based on each customer’s unique spending patterns.”
A tech leader in this complex space requires unique skillsets in development, engineering, marketing, and customer support. As Punchh evolved, it became more difficult to find and recruit the best players for their growing team.
“There is so much opportunity in Silicon Valley that most companies find it difficult to remain competitive to attract talent,” says Shailesh.
The Impact
With nearly 300 employees, and offices in the US and India, Punchh needed to round out their engineering team – and they needed to find the right people who believed in Punchh’s values and culture.
Shailesh describes Punchh as transparent and impactful. He explains that Punchh has driven a culture where all managers make every effort to ensure their team members are respected, valued, and listened to.
“Punchh looks for people who want to do good work,” Shailesh says. “They want recognition, they want to know that their work means something, they want to work with really bright people, and they want people who help bring out the best versions of themselves.”
Shailesh says it’s important that employees enjoy working for Punchh, and Punchh founders as well as leadership has worked hard to lay out clear road maps for career mobility and professional development. “That is what matters most to people.”
Punchh began to look at various regions in North America to expand their team. They needed a tech hub with talent that had both experience and ambition to make an impact.
The Solution
In 2019, Punchh used Syndesus’ recruiting services to help open their office in Toronto. Syndesus came highly recommended by an economic development organization in the city.
Shailesh says he thanks Syndesus for helping Punchh understand the Canadian tech market, and then establish a local presence. The Toronto team is now at eight people and growing
Shailesh says Toronto was the obvious choice, not only because of their history in tech and the rich pool of experienced candidates, but also because it was this team that would need to cross-collaborate with their engineers in India. The time zones worked well for that.
Syndesus helped recruit, vet, and interview potential employees – using relationships in the city to help Punchh break into this new market. Shailesh says it was Syndesus’ professional approach to recruitment that helped make things easier for the company – producing a talented pipeline of prepared prospects.
“They were working with the candidates, selling Punchh’s culture, and communicating our value proposition in a homegrown style,” explains Shailesh. “They did due diligence in understanding why Punchh is a great opportunity for a candidate looking for tech work in Toronto.”
Shailesh says he thanks Syndesus for helping Punch understand the Canadian tech market, and then establish a local presence. The Toronto team is now at eight people and growing.
The Results
In April of 2021, Punchh was acquired by PAR Technology for $500MM. One of the largest providers of restaurant technology services, PAR specializes in point of sale, payment solutions software, and drive-thru tech.
Punchh will continue to operate as an independent entity, but will soon be a product line within PAR, contributing to their customer behavioural data.
The marriage between the two companies will allow for restaurants to personalize offers, intuit solutions, and further tailor campaigns for their customers.
Overall, Shailesh says choosing to grow the team in Canada was a good decision. “We got the scale that we wanted, we got the talent that we wanted, and it’s encouraged us to continue to look for talent in Toronto…”
The companies now have a total of 65 employees in the Toronto area. As business travel resumes later this year, the companies plan to expand their customer success, customer support teams, and other business functions in the GTA.
Currently all of Punchh’s employees work remotely, while offices in the US are opening up with limited capacity.
“We are in a space where technology enables us to work from anywhere. We were one of the first companies in the Bay Area and Toronto to establish a work from home policy during the pandemic.”
Overall, Shailesh says choosing to grow the team in Canada was a good decision. “We got the scale that we wanted, we got the talent that we wanted, and it’s encouraged us to continue to look for talent in Toronto,” he explains. “I think going forward Canada will continue to be a big part of our growth strategy.”
He explains that Syndesus helped Punchh check all the boxes, as they built out a robust and expanded team north of the border.
Future Plans
When asked if he had any advice for other companies looking to expand into Canada, Shailesh says that things are very different now than they were when Punchh first moved into the country in 2019. “There’s much higher competition, which ultimately is a good thing for employees.”
He explains that companies looking to expand into Canada should consider other areas outside of Toronto for all of their business functions. Shailesh believes that the talent market is now equally competitive in Toronto as it is in the Bay Area.
Punchh has now acquired the skills needed to move much of what they learned from Sydnesus to in-house teams as they develop their growth strategy. “If we have the need, we’ll definitely use Syndesus in the future.”
