SinglePlatform raises $ 3. 3 m to help local businesses create online storefronts

Leena Rao is currently working as a writer for TechCrunch. She recently finished graduate school of the Medill School of journalism at Northwestern University, where she studied business journalism and videography. From 2004 to 2007 she helped lead efforts for advocacy and community relationships Congressman Carloyn Maloney in New York. She graduated from Columbia University in 2003 where it was ... ? Read More

SinglePlatform, a startup that helps local businesses create Web sites in minutes, had raised $ 3.25 million funding led by DFJ Gotham Ventures from the new world ventures, first round capital and enterprises of the RCF. This investment brings the company a total funding of 4.45 million.

SinglePlatform works like a ' one-stop ' platform for local businesses to manage their Internet presence, allowing them to integrate their Web sites, Twitter, Facebook and more easily. Local businesses can also publish their events, events, menus, photos and more. In addition the website creation tool SinglePlatform automatically creates a mobile optimized site.

Another bonus for using SinglePlatform is that businesses can publish their lists publisher network, which includes 11 000 mobile applications, 34 000 hotels, 620 universities, data providers and travel expenses and food specific destination sites.

As more local businesses to be present, the Internet and on mobile phones, easy to use, offering both SinglePlatform be sure to be popular. Currently, thousands of restaurants through hundreds of markets using SinglePlatform to manage their digital presence.

This is actually a market where Google also tries to get the business. The search giant has actively encouraged the company to create mobile and Web site to create a digital presence.

About 89% of consumers researched restaurant online before dining there, but only a small percentage of Web sites have a modern restaurant information. Restaurants recognize that they need.

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Deck raises $ 19 million to connect main street businesses with capital

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On deck capital, a platform that connects to the small business capital was raised 19 million dollars of its own in a series c funding round. Run raised $ 15 million in January from SAP Ventures and the recently added another four million dollars from SF Capital Group, a firm of private investment on new emerging issues. Within the framework of the new funding Capital Group President SF Neil Wolfson will be joining on the deck of the Board of Directors. Wolfson joined David Hartwig, Managing Director of SAP that is subscribed to the Council after the investment firm. On deck was raised a total of $ 38 million from investors including the venture partners, first round capital path, better business, RCF enterprises and rural enterprises.

On deck was on a good run recently, as it added two senior leaders for its sales and business development teams, made an appearance at the Forum of the Clinton global initiative in Chicago, has doubled its growth month to acquire customers (up to 4000 customers) and credit applications in 2011 and is now a small business with more than 125 million dollars in capital (average loan size of $ 30 K). You can read our original coverage on deck here.

Created in 2006, the deck uses a combination of aggregation and electronic payment technology to bring an alternative form of assessing the health of small businesses in an attempt to attract capital for small and medium-sized enterprises. While TechCrunch and other technology publications regularly cover the startups raise large rounds of venture capital firms and Angel investors (ahem, like this one), the truth is that there are a huge number of small businesses in the United States, who could not raise money from powerful venture firms.

Avenue to capital for many family shops on main street traditionally apply for a bank loan. Thus not only enterprises that do not have access to venture capital, but he is also a market that has been covered by these traditional bank loans.

On deck considers that individual enterprise the main street of the fundamental problem is not a loan and capital one (as it so often diagnosed) but instead is a matter of time and technology. What does it mean? Small and medium-sized businesses often cannot afford (or lack of experience) to complete a lengthy loan packages, and, on the other hand, banks do not want to allow (the truth inordinately) cost of underwriting of sub $ 250 K, financing of space — not to mention those who, for $ 100 K for which the process is even more tedious.

As a result, banks are forced to rely largely on personal credit score business owner in the assessment of the application for the loan, which is often highly inaccurate reflection of the business. Thus, on deck solves this problem by using the software, which investigates the number of data points, including how many clients business, cash flow, sales and recorded complaints — all in an attempt to find out whether the business is strong enough to repay the loan.

So instead of going to a personal credit score business owner, the company offers what it calls "on the deck of the rating", which is not a business loan is intended to provide creditors with effective measure the creditworthiness of small businesses. Score on deck was developed in partnership with Equifax.

Because the launch platform allows enterprises to create trade profiles, which associates a sources of electronic data, including online banking, accounting and trade processing (and aggregates social, tax and industry data), banks and lenders can facilitate access to the complete financial profile (SMB). Is the rescues of creditors from the hassle of data collection, or relying on personal credit scores for credit assessment.

In view of the fact that currently 5 million enterprises, which have 25 employees or less — a segment of the United States economy is based on 40 per cent of its work — on deck provides an extremely valuable service to facilitate underwriting of these enterprises, and the new infusion of capital to ensure that the launch continues to bring disruptive technologies is not enough (and tangible) market segment.

For more check on the deck of the House here.

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Yext raises $ 10 million to Double down on PowerListings for local businesses

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The Office of the local lists via the Internet is a nightmare for small businesses and great opportunities for startup Yext local advertising. New York City, the company just closed a $ 10 million series d round, led by Michael Walrath through his investment vehicle WGI group. Other existing investors also participated in the NRP, Ron Conway of SV Angel and Sutter Hill Ventures. Walrath was the founder of right media (sold to Yahoo for $ 850 million) and became Chairman of Yext in March last year.

This was very much an internal round, but in a higher assessment than $ 25 million c round two years ago (which was called at that time (B), but was technically C). Yext and business pay-per-call basis local business ads. And it's a decent sized business that brings in tens of millions and the company even entertained some acquisition proposals. "We thought about whether or not to sell or do something that could be as big as 100 times," says CEO Howard Lerman ", and we chose the latter.

Instead of selling, Yext decided to go in another direction and spent 10 million dollars to develop a completely new product for local businesses, called PowerListings, which is growing rapidly and eventually will overtake the remuneration of each call to the business. Originally called tags, PowerListings gives local businesses one panel where they can manage their listings across dozens of sites such as Yelp, SuperPages, Citysearch, Yellowbook, Local.com, Yahoo local, and more. PowerListings allows traders to correct inaccurate lists via the Internet and update them all from one central location. Over the past 100 days, the company recorded 4500 seats and select growth (see chart).

According to Lerman, that there are only about 200.000 local enterprises in verticals, Yext focused on who can use pay per call service (which it will continue to work). But the need for a way to manage local lists on the Web covers the 20 million enterprises in the United States so why not sell the business to pay for the call and take the money to build the power of lists business? Lerman said that he wants to keep the same team and stack technology, as well as use the existing relationship with Yext's local business listings sites.

A new money he wants to integrate more than 100 local sites and applications so that Yext is a portal of local companies to manage their lists, information on the Internet. "Whenever someone searches for local companies, we want to be there to help synchronize the list business," said Lerman. Yext is also working on mobile applications for local businesses that will enable them to manage their lists, their iPhones and even upload new photos to their location. With one click, they can change the photos of their business on Citysearch, Yelp, Yahoo local and everywhere their listings will appear on the network.

For the majority of local enterprises, their lists are their main presence on the Internet, and they do not always have control over these lists say about their location. Yext wants to give them back to the control.

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