Baltimore-based EcoMap Technologies Inc. has raised $3.5 million in a seed funding round, allowing the tech company to continue to expand and add new customers.
EcoMap creates platforms to help people navigate ecosystems, compiling all the important players and resources in an industry such as technology. The company plans to hire nine to 10 new employees over the next 12 months, bringing the staff to 25 people.
Founder and CEO Pava LaPere plans to focus on marketing to help gain new customers, as EcoMap previously relied on word of mouth sales, with customers who enjoyed the product spreading the word to other companies.
"We haven't taken marketing very seriously because we had such strong inbound interest from customers, where they found an EcoMap platform and want one of their own," LaPere said.
The lead investor in the round is Las Olas Venture Capital with $1.6 million of investment. Other investors include Janus Venture Partners, GroTech Ventures, Conscious Venture Partners, TCP Venture Capital, TechStars and other local partners. LaPere said the company originally sought to raise $3 million. The seed round began on March 15.
“Although ecosystems exist everywhere, the tools on the market today lack the functionality and flexibility to encompass the complexity of ecosystem management. EcoMap fills this gap," Las Olas Venture Capital Partner Nate Vasel said in a statement.
LaPere began working on what would become EcoMap in 2016 after founding the Johns Hopkins venture incubator The Hatchery as a student. LaPere initially focused on entrepreneurial ecosystems, compiling the incubators and venture capital resources that startups need. After founding the company in 2018, LaPere quickly discovered that the need for a database of the important players in a community extended beyond the startup space.
The company has since branched into other industries, creating a map in partnership with Meta focused on extended reality, which includes augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR) and virtual reality (VR). The Maryland Technology Development Corp. (TEDCO) worked with EcoMap to create a platform for the state's entrepreneurial resources and funding sources. The company also works to create maps for diverse ecosystems, such as an ecomap for the Black Butterfly Network, focusing on black-owned businesses in Baltimore.
The large amount of diverse customers meant EcoMap's early years focused on technical development, giving the company the experience necessary to focus on growth.
"A very small percentage of this fundraise is going to technical development, so much of it is just going to pure growth," LaPere said.
The company had achieved profitability in its early years, LaPere said, with a higher cost for initial creation of the map, but lower annual fees. LaPere said to foster growth, the company lowered implementation fees to pick up more customers.
“One of the reasons we took on this capital was so that we can sustain not being profitable as we invest in growth,” LaPere said.
In 2022 the company was selected as an Inno Fire Award winner, with LaPere being named a 2021 Maryland Inno 25 under 25 selection.
