OwnLocal

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

OwnLocal
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

History

Lloyd Armbrust and Jason Novek founded Seeing Interactive in 2010.[1][5][6][7][8] Backed by seed accelerator Y-Combinator, the company launched as a service for local newspaper, TV, and Radio stations.[1][4][5][9] 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][10] The company changed its name to OwnLocal in March 2011.[11]

In October 2011, OwnLocal received an undisclosed amount from a funding round led by Automattic, the developer of WordPress.[3][9] The incubator 500 Startups also participated in the funding.[8] The round raised the company's total funding to $2 million.[2][12]

OwnLocal was one of the first for-profit companies to receive funding from the Knight Enterprise Fund, a fund for media innovation.[2][9][12] The company also received an equity investment in February 2013 from Digital First Ventures for an undisclosed amount.[13]

Acquisitions

In May 2014, OwnLocal acquired Whoosh Traffic.[14] Whoosh Traffic was an Austin-based company that powered SEO reporting for large Fortune 500 companies and small businesses.[15] Whoosh was backed by Techstars, 500 Startups, and several other major technology investors.

OwnLocal acquired Sidengo on March 10, 2015.[16] 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.[17] As of March 2015, OwnLocal had integrated the Sidengo technology into their platform and planned to distribute the technology to their media partners.[16]

OwnLocal acquired Inbound Press[18] 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[19] as of June 2016.

In 2017, OwnLocal acquired Wanderful Media.[20][21]

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