Plink, an online-to-offline loyalty program that rewards members for dining and shopping at their favorite national restaurants and offline stores, announced that it has closed a $3 million Series A round of funding from Grotech Ventures.

The funding will be used to accelerate development of Plink's platform for offline advertisers, member acquisition marketing, and growth of the company's sales, marketing, and technology teams.

"Connecting online-to-offline is a challenge for marketers," says Plink Cofounder and CEO Peter Vogel. "Plink bridges that gap, and Grotech Ventures' investment brings nearly 20 years of successful experience, an enormous amount of industry know-how, insight, and strategic guidance to propel Plink to the next level."

Joe Zell, general partner of Grotech Ventures, says, "For consumers, Plink is a no-brainer. Why wouldn't someone join and get rewards for going out to their favorite places? There's no extra card to carry or steps a consumer has to take. In addition, Plink has already proven that huge national restaurant brands love the model, and they're already seeing significant increases in consumer purchases."

Plink members can currently earn rewards at more than 35,000 locations nationwide, including Arby's, Burger King, Dunkin' Donuts, Quiznos, and Taco Bell, among others.

Large restaurant chains have been quick to embrace Plink's online-to-offline loyalty platform because it doesn't require any changes to their existing point-of-sale infrastructure and does not require staff training. Plink does all the marketing and the restaurants only pay a percentage of the sales that Plink drives.

Initial results have shown that Plink members are spending 65 percent more per month at partner restaurants than they were prior to joining Plink. It's a risk-free, 100 percent turnkey model for national chains, and Plink will soon be adding large retail and travel partners.