Poken gets $2 million in funding, readies move to Silicon Valley
19 March, 2012
category: NFC
Poken, a provider of NFC tag-based marketing solutions, has received $2 million in an investment round led by Swisscom Ventures and Credit Suisse to expand its U.S. sales operations.
In addition to the funding, Poken will move its headquarters from Switzerland to Paolo Alto, Calif. on April 1. The company has also appointed a new CEO, Silicon Valley native Sri Chilukuri. According to Poken, Chilukuri has held executive positions at Adobe Systems, VA Linux Systems, Bellamax, and Xerox Corporation, and most recently served as CEO of Content Circles, which was acquired by Skype in 2011.
Poken’s founder and current CEO, Stéphane Doutriaux, will remain with the company as Chief Product Officer (CPO) and head up its Product & Engineering innovation centers. Jeff Heywood, another Silicon Valley veteran, joins the company as its new CFO.
Poken offers a suite of products and software that enables users collect and exchange digital information in the real world by tapping a Poken NFC dongle, mobile phone, or other NFC-enabled device against an NFC tag.