CHICAGO, IL--(Marketwire - March 30, 2011) - Local Offer Network (LON), a leading provider of technology and services to the fast-growing market for group buying services, today announced that it has closed the final tranche of $1.5 million in Series A financing led by investors IllinoisVentures and Matthew Pritzker Company. The funds will be used to further accelerate the company's network expansion, product enhancements, client service staff and new business development.
Launched in the first quarter of 2010, the LON Deal Engine™ aggregates more than 2,000 group buying offers daily from websites in 97 markets worldwide. LON has forged relationships with these sites to help them achieve instant scale through LON distribution partners, which reach millions of consumers each month. Dealradar.com™, LON's direct-to-consumer site, continues to serve as a trusted resource that provides consumers with one-stop shopping for all the best deals in the cities they live in and visit.
Multi-channel media companies with local market reach and expertise, sales forces and advertisers turn to LON to create new revenue streams through LON's VoucherPro™ platform, which provides the technology, services and support required to operate competitive branded deal products. Publishers also generate revenue by syndicating existing offers to their audiences using LON's DealWire™ service.
"We remain relentlessly focused on helping offer providers, publishers, merchants and consumers reap the benefits of this growing market," said Dan Hess, CEO and co-founder of Local Offer Network. "We're thrilled that this mission has earned such a strong vote of confidence from investors with deep experience in both online and traditional businesses."
Driving Local Offer Network's traction is the company's ability to collect, categorize and syndicate massive numbers of offers in diverse formats. These offers generate not only direct revenue, but also a rich set of data that enables LON to serve its partners with market intelligence and insight.
"We found Local Offer Network to have a compelling vision of a vibrant group-buying ecosystem," said John Banta, CEO and managing director of IllinoisVentures. "The company represents an exceptional combination of veteran founders, a highly scalable platform and significant market traction."
"This team comes to the table with a track record of building both new and established brands," said Matthew Pritzker. "We share LON's philosophy of helping its clients compete not only through leading technology, but also with superior strategy and service."
About Local Offer Network:
Local Offer Network (LON) creates new competitive advantages in the fast-growing group buying market. LON products and services include DealWire™, a web-wide distribution network that allows publishers to tap new revenue streams, and group buying sites to achieve instant audience scale; VoucherPro™, an offer creation platform that enables the rapid creation of new daily deal advertising products; and Dealradar.com™, a convenient deal-shopping tool for consumers in four countries.
About IllinoisVentures:
IllinoisVentures is a premier seed and early-stage technology investment firm focused on companies in information technologies, physical sciences, life sciences and clean technology. With extensive operating experience in the private and public sectors, the firm has invested in companies including ShareThis, RiverGlass, Semprius and Mirror.me, and helped those firms create and grow industry-leading products.
About Matthew Pritzker Company:
Matthew Pritzker Company, LLC makes direct equity and debt investments in growth companies that are efficient in their capital needs, with a portfolio that includes innovative, early and growth-stage companies in technology, retail, media, real estate and other sectors. The firm's holdings include ShareThis, UNX, HomeMade Pizza and Hugo Naturals.
Contact Information:
Contact Information
Jason Throckmorton, Lauren Lloyd or Katie Dally
LaunchSquad
415.625.8555
lon(at)launchsquad(dot)com