Marketing & Advertising Solutions
On June 1st, 2012, Swipely launched our platform to help local
merchants accept payments, understand customers and grow sales. It’s
been an exciting ride ever since, and we’re proud to have been named to
Forbes’ 100 list of “America’s Most Promising Companies” and one of the
“Best Places to Work in Rhode Island” by Providence Business News this
year.
Swipely now manages more than $700 million in annual sales to help
hundreds of merchants in 130 cities better understand 2 million
customers. These merchants are the lifeblood of their neighborhoods,
creating spots where we love to meet up, eat and shop. READ MORE
Skyword, the leading platform for quality, original content production at scale, today announced it has closed $6.7 million in growth financing led by Cox Media Group. The investment will be used to expand the team and help scale the company to meet increasing customer and partner needs as content marketing becomes an integral part of brand marketing initiatives and digital content production for media companies. READ MORE
Extreme Reach, Inc., the leading video platform for integrated TV, online and mobile advertising, announced today a significant investment by Spectrum Equity, a leading growth equity firm focused on the information economy. Spectrum Equity’s investment is in excess of $50 million for a minority stake in Extreme Reach. The financing will support the company’s rapid growth and expansion through acquisitions. READ MORE
Placester announced $2.5 million in seed financing led by new Boston seed fund, Romulus Capital. Founded in 2009, the Placester real estate marketing platform gives agents a way to quickly launch individual marketing sites that are dynamically driven by real estate multiple listing services (MLS), accessible across mobile devices and the web, and integrated with lead management and other marketing services. READ MORE
Extraprise,
the leader in right time revenue optimization services for B2B and B2C
enterprises, today announced it has acquired SmartSource, a leading B2B
and B2C email service provider with extensive marketing automation,
workflow and multi-channel marketing functionality. The acquisition
provides a platform to deliver advanced digital lifecycle marketing
capabilities to B2B and B2C enterprises. Those enterprises will then be
able to execute real-time, multi-channel marketing campaigns at any
stage of the customer lifecycle to optimize revenue. SmartSource will
operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Extraprise, and will continue to
provide technology and services to its marketing service provider,
digital agencies and enterprise clients. The financial terms of the
acquisition are not being disclosed. READ MORE
As reported by TechCrunch, Nanigans in Boston has raised $5.8M in a Series A.1 round of funding. Nanigans, an early official Facebook Ads API Partner, offers a fully automated real-time bidding platform for the Facebook ads marketplace.
As reported by TechCrunch, SavingStar in Waltham, MA has raised $9M in Series C funding from DCM, Flybridge, First Round, IA Ventures, Buddy Media Founder and CEO Michael Lazerow, among others. SavingStar is a national, fully digital, grocery eCoupon service.
WorldOne,the global leader in healthcare data collection, insights and intelligence, today announced that the company has secured $35 million in funding commitments from Deerfield Management Company. The capital will be allocated to accelerate the development of WorldOne's Data Collection and Interactive businesses. The focus of the investment will be on expansion of Sermo, which WorldOne acquired in July of last year, to offer physicians a global destination to participate in industry market research...READ MORE
Today, inbound marketing software company HubSpot, Inc., announced that it has completed acquisitions of Chime and PrepWork, two early-stage technology companies based in Toronto and New Haven, respectively. Of the news, HubSpot CEO Brian Halligan said “this fall we completed our Mezzanine financing to give us the flexibility to grow by acquisition. We sought out innovative companies who could help us continue to transform the marketing landscape, and both Chime and PrepWork embody those characteristics. Over the upcoming year, we’ll continue to look for companies that fit this profile, so we hope this is the first of several acquisition announcements as we continue to expand on our commitment to transforming the landscape of modern marketing.” READ MORE
Billaway, a Boston, MA-based provider of a rewards program for utilities, closed a $1.1m seed funding. The round was led by the Funding Farm with participation from Boston-area angels and management. The company intends to use the funds to add new team members and execute on new partnerships. READ MORE
As per SEC filings, Crimson Hexagon in Boston, MA has raised $3.5M in funding. Crimson Hexagon is a provider of social media monitoring and analysis to brands, agencies, media firms and their partners.
clypd, the interactive television and video ad exchange, today announced it has closed a $3.2 million Series A investment round led by Scott Savitz of Data Point Capital and Ryan Moore of Atlas Venture. Additional venture capital investors include Freestyle Capital, Tribeca Venture Partners, Boston Seed Capital, and Transmedia Capital.
clypd was founded by Joshua Summers and Doug Hurd, two entrepreneurs and former PayPal Media Network executives who have a strong advertising technology pedigree and deep expertise in operations, product, business development and driving revenue growth. Summers and Hurd left PayPal Media Network just three months ago to bring an online and mobile advertising model to interactive television.
As reported by Business Insider, Twitter is acquiring Bluefin Labs in Cambridge for an undisclosed amount. Bluefin Labs in an MIT media spinout focuse on social TV analytics company providing solutions to brand advertisers, advertising agencies and TV networks.
Their investors include Time Warner Investments, SoftBank Capital, and Redpoint Ventures. They also had several angel investors: Brian Bedol, Jim Pallotta, Jonathan Kraft, Dan Gilbert, Kenneth Lerer, Jeff Samberg, & John Fogelman.
Linkwell Health, an innovative developer of health and wellness consumer engagement platforms, today announced that the company has raised $11 million in Series C funding led by WellPoint (NYSE: WLP), the nation's leading health benefits company. Existing investors Spark Capital and HLM Venture Partners also participated in the round. With a unique model of consumer engagement that brings together health plans, better-for-you brands and retailers, Linkwell Health will use this new round to extend the breadth and reach of its platform to consumers across multiple channels.
Backstage, LLC, the world's most trusted name in casting, auditions and entertainment-industry opportunities, today announced that it has acquired Sonicbids, the leading platform for bands to connect with promoters and market themselves online. The deal, financed by Guggenheim Partners, combines the two leading entities for actors, musicians, casting directors and promoters to showcase and discover talent. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Backstage and Sonicbids come from the same heritage of matching artists with opportunities. For more than 50 years, Backstage has been the world’s most trusted name in casting, auditions and entertainment-industry opportunities. It helps actors, singers and dancers find opportunities, while connecting casting directors, producers, directors and choreographers with amazing talent.
Jebbit in Boston, MA has raised $229K led by Boston Seed Capital. Other investors include John Simon (Partner at Sigma Prime Ventures) and Dharmesh Shah of HubSpot. Jebbit, a startup founded by Boston College students, allows companies to create questions highlighting their products and rewards consumers for correctly answering and engaging.
Moontoast, a Boston and Nashville-based provider of a social rich media advertising platform, raised $5m in Series B financing.
The round was led by the Martin Companies, LLC, with participation from unnamed existing investors (read here).
The company intends to use the capital to further develop its platform, and expand its business development, sales and client services efforts. It is also adding to its marketing and product development teams.
Celtra Inc., the industry leader for rich media mobile ad serving and analytics, today announced a $4 million strategic investment led by investor SoftBank Capital. Ron Fisher, managing partner at SoftBank Capital, will join Celtra’s Board of Directors.
In addition to SoftBank Capital, existing Celtra investors GrandBanks Capital and Fairhaven Capital participated in this round. The investment will be used to explore business opportunities in Japan and elsewhere in the Asia Pacific by leveraging SoftBank Capital’s strong relationships and experience in the region. In addition, funds will be used to expand the company’s engineering presence in the U.S. by bringing product development operations to San Francisco.
Kitsy Lane, a Maynard, MA-provider of a social commerce platform for at-home entrepreneurs, has raised $3.5m in a Series A funding. The round was co-led by Data Point Capital and Longworth Venture Partners, with participation from existing investor Point Judith Capital. In conjunction with the funding, Data Point Capital’s Scott Savitz, will be joining the company’s Board of Directors.
Launched in July 2012 by CEO Andy Fox, Kitsy Lane provides a social commerce platform that is designed to enable store operators to quickly launch their own Internet jewelry and accessories boutique. In just five months since the launch, the Kitsy Lane community has grown to over 22,000 women owned and operated businesses.
As per their blog post, Promoboxx has raised $1.35M in funding. Promoboxx is a brand-to-retailer marketing platform that allows brands
to launch co-branded, customized online campaigns with their retailers
in order to strengthen relationships, localize national content, and
reach more consumers.
Their investors include: Launch Capital, Boston Seed, SK Ventures, Common Angels, Stage 1 Ventures and over 30 individual investors that include Jean Hammond, Walt Winshall, Michael Mark, Mike Dornbrook, Rich Greenfield, Adam Berrey, Dave Balter, David Kaufmann, and much too more to list.
Adelphic Mobile, developers of an innovative mobile advertising platform that enables brands to target their mobile customers with relevant ads, announced today that it has received a $10 million investment. The investment was led by Google Ventures with participation from original investor Matrix Partners. As part of the new investment, Rich Miner of Google Ventures has joined Adelphic’s board of directors. The new funds will be used to accelerate product development and scale the company.
As reported by TechCrunch, TrueLens has raisesd $1.2M in funding. The funding round was led by Google Ventures,
with funding from Charles River Ventures, Common Angels, 500 Startups,
and Boston Seed, and from angel investors, including HubSpot CTO
Dharmesh Shah, Tremor SVP Waikit Lau, InfoChimps co-founder Nick Ducoff,
and John Simon, former board member at BzzAgent and m-Qube.
TrueLens is a division of SocMetrics and their technology helps brands understand high-value truths about their business by
empowering them to address the human side of their customers: their
interests, expressions, desires and preferences.
As per the company website, Incentive Targeting in Cambridge, MA has been acquired by Google. Incentive Targeting partners with retail chains to provide a targeted marketing service to manufacturers of grocery and consumer products. Their patent-pending technology allows non-technical marketing executives to design sophisticated, relevant promotions—and measure ROI in real time—directly over the Internet.
As per SEC filings, Swoop in Cambridge, MA has raised $3M in funding. Swoop is a Native Advertising service that seamlessly integrates relevant information about products and services – at times in the form of sponsored content or advertising – into the content that consumers are engaged with online.
Alliance Data Systems Corporation (NYSE:ADS), a leading provider of
loyalty and marketing solutions derived from transaction-rich data,
today announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire the Hyper
Marketing ("HMI") group of companies, the largest privately held
marketing services agency in the United States.
HMI offers the
full breadth of ROI-based marketing services through Ryan Partnership,
CatapultRPM, SolutionSet and Getmembers.com, including: digital user
experience design technology, specializing in websites, social media
platforms and mobility; customer relationship marketing; consumer
promotions marketing; direct and digital shopper marketing; distributed
and local area marketing; and analytical services that include brand
planning and consumer insights. HMI is privately owned by Lake Capital
and its affiliates, and has approximately 1,100 employees based
primarily in Chicago, San Francisco and Wilton, Conn.
All-in-one inbound marketing software firm HubSpot announced a $35
million mezzanine financing round today with substantial new investment
from several sources including a large, unnamed institutional investor,
Altimeter Capital, Cross Creek Capital, and previous investors. This
fundraising marks $100 million in total financing for HubSpot, and the
proceeds will be used to fund further growth in the company through
hiring, international expansion, and acquisitions.
“Our goal has always been to build a successful, enduring,
independent company that transforms how the world does marketing. We’re
generating revenue at an annualized run rate of $60 million, up more
than 80% over last year, and we still see a huge market opportunity
ahead of us,” said HubSpot CEO and co-founder Brian Halligan. “This
financing sets us up for big investments in hiring and acquisitions so
that we can continue to change the way the world does marketing.”
Local
Corporation (NASDAQ: LOCM), a leading online local media company,
today announced the sale of Rovion to Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE:GCI).
The company entered into a definitive agreement to sell Rovion to
Gannett on Oct. 19, 2012. Under the terms of the agreement, Gannett
acquired Rovion and all related assets.
InCrowd, the only company providing real time healthcare market
research, announced today that it has secured $2.2 million in Series A
Funding led by Nauta Capital. InCrowd will use the Series A funds to
speed its ongoing technology development and cutting edge tools for the
decision support industry, expand its Crowds of healthcare professionals
and add top talent to the team.
Over the past 12 months, InCrowd has built a highly specialized Crowd of
pre-screened healthcare professionals that have opted-in to answer
micro surveys in real time. During this period, InCrowd has also
expanded its client base to include 8 of the top 10 pharmaceutical
companies and a growing base of biotech and medical device companies.
The ability to gain near instant market feedback has fueled rapid growth
in a data driven industry that is increasingly tasked to know now.
Dealer.com, the global leader in online marketing solutions for the automotive industry, has acquired selected assets of Hurley and Frank Industries, Inc. (dba hearforward), a Burlington-based firm that develops, executes and measures social media promotional campaigns. The acquisition closed August 17; terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Visible Measures, the innovation platform for video, today announced
that it has secured a growth round of $21.5 million, led by DAG Ventures
with strong participation from existing investors Advance Publications,
Inc., owners of Conde Nast, General Catalyst Partners, Mohr Davidow
Ventures, Northgate Capital, and new investor Commonfund. The new
funding will further accelerate the already rapid growth and adoption of
the industry’s leading analytics-driven digital video advertising
platform among brand advertisers and premium video publishers.
“Our wonderful team at Visible Measures has been building spectacular
momentum over the past few years, and this year we’re on track to
surpass 300% revenue growth for our second consecutive year.” said Brian
Shin, founder and CEO of Visible Measures. “We’re fortunate to have
such incredible investors and partners who recognize Visible Measures’
singular opportunity to change the game in digital video, with the
industry’s only premium choice-based video platform for advertisers, the
industry’s first choice-based video monetization solution for
publishers, and our vision to power it all with our massive, exclusive
video dataset and analytics platform.”