Raise Report: Fresh Funding for Grab, Promoboxx, GameTime
Every two weeks, we round up some of the biggest fundraises taking place in hyperlocal marketing, commerce, and tech.
Friday, September 9: Shippo Secures $7 Million to Help Businesses Access Carriers
Union Square Ventures led the Series A round, which Shippo will use to build out its API and other functionalities, VentureBeat reported. Shippo sells an API that allows its business partners to offer their customers several carrier options, improving the customer experiences they offer.
Tuesday, September 13: Sourcery Lands $5 Million to Smooth Restaurant-Vendor Relations
Restaurants struggling to keep track of their various engagements with vendors ranging from family-owned farms to agricultural juggernauts can rely on Sourcery’s software to streamline record-keeping. Sourcery’s vision earned it a $5 million round led by Marker LLC, TechCrunch reported. The startup will use its new capital to sharpen its software and build out new features.
Thursday, September 15: Promoboxx Picks Up $8.2 Million to Connect National Brands and Local Retailers
The Series A funding round was led by Ascent Venture Partners, according to a press release. Boston-based Promoboxx, which makes software that allows national brands to coordinate with local retailers more effectively, will use the funds to scale up its operations at home and abroad.
Monday, September 19: AdStage Scores $2 Million for Digital Marketing Platform
Verizon Ventures provided the bulk of the funds, VentureBeat reported. AdStage will use the funding to build out a marketing product suite. Its technology helps SMBs manage their marketing strategies, assessing both their previous practices and those of their competitors.
Tuesday, September 20: Vroom Locks Down $50 Million to Grow Inventory and Staff
Altimeter Capital and Foxhaven Asset Management made their first investments in Vroom for the Series E round. Previous investors L Catterton, General Catalyst Partners, Allen & Co., and T. Rowe Price Associates also contributed, Fortune reported. With the funds, Vroom, an online dealer for used cars that buys cars off people looking to sell them and then sells them to new customers, will “expand inventory and staff.”
Tuesday, September 20: Grab Gobbles Up $750 Million to Rival Uber in Southeast Asia
SoftBank Capital led the round, Recode reported. Grab claims to command 1.5 million rides per day, but it will likely need the fresh funding to battle off Uber, which is attempting to take control of Grab’s home market.
Wednesday, September 21: GameTime Racks Up $20 Million for Ticket Marketplace
GV, Evolution Media Partners and the Stanford StartX Fund invested in GameTime for the first time while Accel Venture Partners and multiple individual investors returned to the table, Sport Techie reported. GameTime, which describes itself as a “last-minute” marketplace for event tickets and targets millennials in particular, will likely use the capital to grow its staff and sharpen event discovery features.
Joseph Zappa is Street Fight’s news editor.
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