OwnLocal explained

OwnLocal
Type:Technology
Industry:Advertising
Founded:Austin, Texas, United States
Founder:
  • Lloyd Armbrust
  • Jason Novek
Location City:Austin, Texas
Location Country:United States
Key People:
  • Lloyd Armbrust (CEO)
  • Landon Morales (CRO)
Products:
  • AdForge
  • Origami

OwnLocal is an Austin, Texas-based digital advertising startup founded in 2010.[1] [2] [3] [4]

History

Lloyd Armbrust and Jason Novek founded Seeing Interactive in 2010.[1] [5] [6] [7] Backed by seed accelerator Y-Combinator, the company launched as a service for local newspaper, TV, and Radio stations.[1] [4] [5] [8] After its launch, the startup raised $1 million in seed funding from various investors, including Lerer Ventures, Baseline Ventures, and angel investors Joshua Schachter and Paul Buchheit.[1] [9] The company changed its name to OwnLocal in March 2011.[10]

In October 2011, OwnLocal received an undisclosed amount from a funding round led by Automattic, the developer of WordPress.[3] [8] The incubator 500 Startups also participated in the funding. The round raised the company's total funding to $2 million.[2] [11]

OwnLocal was one of the first for-profit companies to receive funding from the Knight Enterprise Fund, a fund for media innovation.[2] [8] [11] The company also received an equity investment in February 2013 from Digital First Ventures for an undisclosed amount.[12]

Acquisitions

In May 2014, OwnLocal acquired Whoosh Traffic.[13] Whoosh Traffic was an Austin-based company that powered SEO reporting for large Fortune 500 companies and small businesses.[14] Whoosh was backed by Techstars, 500 Startups, and several other major technology investors.

OwnLocal acquired Sidengo on March 10, 2015.[15] Sidengo was an easy-to-use website builder for people with no design or technical skills. Sidengo was started in Monterrey, Mexico by Jorge González and Gabriel Garza.[16] As of March 2015, OwnLocal had integrated the Sidengo technology into their platform and planned to distribute the technology to their media partners.

OwnLocal acquired Inbound Press[17] in March 2016. Inbound Press was created in Orange County, California by Andrew McFadden. The company's flagship product, Smart Media Kit, is a proven process that generates new advertising leads for newspapers. OwnLocal had added Smart Media Kit to its product offerings[18] as of June 2016.

In 2017, OwnLocal acquired Wanderful Media.[19] [20]

Notes and References

  1. News: YComb's Seeing Interactive Raises Seed Round From Baseline, Buchheit, Schachter, and Lerer Ventures . . June 28, 2010 . August 27, 2013 . Schonfeld, Erick.
  2. Web site: OwnLocal raises funds to help save local news . . October 19, 2011 . August 27, 2013 . Merino, Faith.
  3. Web site: The Company Behind WordPress Invests in Newspaper Toolmaker OwnLocal . . October 19, 2011 . August 27, 2013 . Gannes, Liz.
  4. Web site: OwnLocal cleverly makes newspapers money with Web 2.0 tools . The Next Web . April 5, 2011 . August 27, 2013 . Myers,Courtney Boyd.
  5. News: Y Combinator presents 26 new startups . . March 23, 2010 . August 27, 2013 . Bowman, Matt.
  6. 4 Megatrends In Social Media And Social Business . . December 20, 2011 . August 27, 2013 . Shaughnessy, Haydn.
  7. Web site: OwnLocal . . August 27, 2013.
  8. Web site: Ownlocal scores funds to get small firms online . . October 19, 2011 . August 27, 2013 . Johnson, Bobbie.
  9. Web site: Ad service Seeing Interactive raises USD1m in seed round . StrategyEye . June 29, 2010 . August 27, 2013.
  10. News: Seeing Interactive Changes Name To OwnLocal, Launches Hyper-Local Deals Network . . March 18, 2011 . August 27, 2013 . Tsotsis, Alexia.
  11. News: Austin startup OwnLocal hits $2 million mark in venture capital . . October 25, 2011 . August 27, 2013 . Hawkins, Lori.
  12. Web site: OwnLocal Receives Equity Investment from Digital First Ventures . FinSMEs . February 19, 2013 . August 27, 2013.
  13. Web site: OwnLocal Acquires Whoosh Traffic . OwnLocal . May 21, 2014 . April 7, 2015 . Armbrust, Lloyd.
  14. Web site: Whoosh Traffic, Inc.: Private Company Information - Businessweek. www.bloomberg.com. 2016-08-16.
  15. Web site: OwnLocal Acquires Austin Tech Startup Sidengo . OwnLocal . March 10, 2015 . April 7, 2015 . Armbrust, Lloyd.
  16. Web site: Sidengo About Us . Sidengo . July 1, 2011 . April 7, 2015 . González, Jorge.
  17. Web site: OwnLocal Acquires Wanderful Media, Building Out Local Data Street Fight. Zappa. Joseph. June 9, 2017. streetfightmag.com. en-US. 2018-08-30.
  18. News: Austin digital ad agency OwnLocal continues growth with acquisition. Hawkins. Lori. February 7, 2017. 2018-08-30.
  19. Web site: OwnLocal acquires Wanderful, a local deal startup backed by newspaper giants. TechCrunch. en-US. 2020-04-01.
  20. Web site: OwnLocal acquires Wanderful, a local deal startup backed by newspaper giants. 2017-06-09. Silicon Valley. en-US. 2020-04-01.