Hooch Picks Up $5M As It Plans Blockchain Initiative
Tap into the night of your life.
Hooch, a Drink-a-Day startup that allows users to get one free drink a day, announced Wednesday it has raised $5 million in seed funding. The news comes as the company prepares to launch a blockchain-powered cryptocurrency called TAP Coin.
The company had previously raised $2.75 million in two pre-seed rounds. Hooch founder and CEO Lin Dai told TechCrunch that this funding round was more to bring on strategic investors than it was to raise a large volume of capital.
Dai also said Hooch is preparing to launch its blockchain initiative this summer. What does blockchain have to do with free drinks? Well, Dai didn’t go into detail, but he suggested that by launching its own cryptocurrency token, Hooch could work with partners to create a “decentralized model for consumer rewards.”
For those that don’t know, a cryptocurrency is a digital currency that is secured by cryptography, which makes it nearly impossible to counterfeit. Most are decentralized networks based on blockchain technology and the most popular one is Bitcoin. Investors can either buy crypto or mine it themselves — more info about this here: https://medium.com/@jimmykiddmining/review-for-coin-mining-central-scam-or-legit-6ec245d9f43. They are mostly just used by investors as a trading opportunity but as their popularity increases, companies are putting the technology to more commercial use — like TAP coin.
What is TAP coin?
Hooch members can now pay for hospitality purchases in tokens, buy drinks for friends all over the world, and gain access to priceless VIP experiences.
The company’s current subscription model allows Hooch users to get one free drink a day from participating bars and restaurants for a $9.99 monthly fee. An additional service, Hooch Black, adds hotels deals and concierge services for a flat rate of $295 per year.
