Jan 5, 2014

Marketing Automation Company SnapRetail Raises Over $4M

Pittsburgh, PA – Pittsburgh-based SaaS (software-as-a-service) marketing automation startup SnapRetail recently received a Series A-1 round of funding for $2.65M in December 2013, adding to a previous raise of $1.5M in July 2013 for a total of $4.15M last year. The company is seeking another $0.5M-1.0M to complete the round.

In 2013, supported by the earlier investment, the company grew the sales team from three to nineteen inside sales members and expanded the company’s reach by the thousands in the independent retail market. The company now serves local retailers in more than 60 sectors including jewelry, pet, spa, pharmacy, consignment, toy, gift and floral. Store owners use SnapRetail to drive store traffic by automating the process of engaging with consumers through email and social media marketing.

The latest round of financing was led by Adams Capital Management and included several individual investors, including a SnapRetail customer, Ladybug Gifts, of Prospect, Kentucky.

“SnapRetail has become an integral part of our store marketing strategy, and we were very intrigued by the company’s mission and strategy,” said Angel Smedley, owner of Ladybug Gifts. “So we contacted the company to learn how we could become an investor and decided to participate in this round of financing.”

The company’s differentiating value is that it provides thousands of professionally designed, pre-written email templates and social media posts that are retail-focused. In conjunction with this ready-to-use content, the company also provides a planning calendar that enables customers to schedule a month’s worth of marketing messages in about 3 hours. Retail-specific capabilities for email, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and coupon support round out the solution.

SnapRetail’s marketing automation solution saves busy store owners both time and money and is the only solution targeted specifically to this audience.

“2013 was a great year for SnapRetail because we dramatically improved a number of key metrics,” said CEO Ted Teele. “For instance, we tripled the size of an average sale and cut customer attrition in half.

“This additional funding will support our growth strategy for 2014 and beyond,” Teele said. “We appreciate the support of our investors like Ms. Smedley, Adams Capital Management and others.”

The investment will be used to grow the sales team to more than 45 team members by the end of 2014, participate in more than 40 trade events attended by independent retailers, increase the subscription base by thousands, and add additional product functionality to strengthen SnapRetail’s position as the marketing automation product of choice by store owners.