Shopkick bags $2.5M to turn shopping into a good deed

iPhone application development firm Shopkick has raised $2.5 million in a first round of venture capital, according to a filing with the SEC. Based in Menlo Park, Calif., the company is best known for an app called CauseWorld. Users can earn points by shopping or even just checking in (like on Foursquare) at brand retailers — points that they can convert into charitable donations to causes of their choice, with the retailers actually putting up the money.

Some of the CauseWorld causes include providing water for people in the Sudan, saving trees in the Amazon rainforest, and more. Just last week, it opened up a channel for people to donate to the Red Cross to help with Haiti earthquake relief.

Shopkick is backed by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman.

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