Boston-based local marketing startup Privy raised $1.7 million in seed funding from Atlas Ventures, 500 Startups, and others on Monday, according to the company's blog.
Wildfire VP of Finance John Dais, CMO of Hubspot Mike Volpe, Homestead founder Justin Kitch, former COO of First Marblehead Ralph James, and founder of Eversave Jere Doyle and a handful of other investors also participated in the round.
Started in 2011, Privy originally focused on serving small, independent business owners and operators. But after participating in the 500 Startups program, Privy shifted its attention and resources in a slightly different direction within the small business market: the multi-unit and regional chains that already have a designated marketing manager or team.
Thanks to Privy's humble beginnings, founder Benjamen Jabbawy noted, the startup could was able to receive feedback that helped drive the product's design and features, that aim to be easy to understand and simple to pick up.
Interested businesses can start using Privy in less than 20 minutes. After logging in, a marketing manager uploads info about the business, including names and managers at each location and their respective addresses. He or she then authenticates the business's various online channels, like Facebook, Twitter, email, its website, mobile site, and more.
Once the accounts are established, the marketing rep can then use Privy to automatically disseminate the business's "chalkboard specials," or the startup's version of limited time deals. Each offer can be set to feature its own photo and description, and run for a specific time frame. Marketing teams can post the chalkboard specials as the offers come up, or they can load them and schedule them up to a year in advance.
Following the deal campaigns, businesses can check the site's online dashboard to assess which sites are driving customers and drill down into customer info, redemptions data, reviews, claims, and more. Customer data can also be imported and exported to Mailchimp, Constant Constact, and CSV to allow for more personalized audience segment targeting.
Now that Privy has some more cash in its pockets, the company, which just moved into a new headquarters by South Station, plans to double its eight person team and further refine the product. In the future, more integrations are in the works, including for services like Yelp, Foursquare, and Open Table, as well as products within the “offline world." While Jabbawy couldn’t get into specifics, he told Tech Crunch the plan includes point-of-sale system integrations, in order to track conversions from online to off.
Privy isn't about converting customers through big discounts, though; it's about getting the right people at the right time.
"78% of consumers turn to the web before deciding on buying locally," reads the blog post. "Yet, local businesses struggle to capture this interest, the moment of a consumer's highest intent, and convert it into real, in-store customers. That's where we come in."
Image via Tech Crunch
