OwnLocal

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OwnLocal
Company typeTechnology
IndustryAdvertising
FoundedAustin, Texas, United States (2010 (2010))
Founder
  • Lloyd Armbrust
  • Jason Novek
Headquarters
Austin, Texas
,
United States
Key people
  • Lloyd Armbrust (CEO)
  • Landon Morales (CRO)
Products
  • AdForge
  • Origami
Websiteownlocal.com

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

History[edit]

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.[citation needed] 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[edit]

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.[15]

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]

References[edit]

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