Boston-born equity crowdfunding firm Launch Angels announced Monday the newest investment of its Where Fund. talklocal, formerly known as Seva Call, has closed a $2.6 million Series A round, which Launch Angels led alongside Privateer Capital, Fortify Ventures and the Crystal Tech Fund.
With offices in Washington, D.C. and San Francisco, talklocal helps consumers searching online find and connect with local businesses in real-time via phone. Rather than force people to flip through the Yellow Pages and succomb to cold calling, talklocal's algorithm matches users with three highly qualified service professionals, whether a dentist, plumber or electrician, based on proximity and availability. Once a match is made, customers can be chatting with an area business in about 90 seconds.
talklocal has sent one-million phone calls since launching in late 2012, connecting consumers with local businesses operating in 46 overall categories. The startup expanded to Boston roughly a year and a half ago, and is now in more than 50 major cities and 49 states.
“Hitting one-million calls is a testament to our strong performance to date," shared talklocal Founder Manpreet Singh in a statement, "but we’re setting the stage for an even steeper rate of growth going forward."
The newfound financing will be used to bolster that growth, as well as support the roll-out of the company's mobile apps.
"We were really impressed by talklocal's understanding of its target customers and its target market," said Launch Angels CEO Shereen Shermak in a statement. "The team is grounded in data analytics and has already demonstrated success through its customer base to date."
Launch Angels raised $1 million at the beginning of the year from individuals tied to Where, the hyper-local ad network acquired by PayPal in April 2011 for $135 million. The financing fueled Launch Angels' initial fund, dubbed the Where Fund, which made its first deal in March and claimed to have another three on the way.
talklocal can now be added to that list. The startup previously raised $1.3 million.
Image via talklocal
