Alvenda, Inc., said Monday that it has secured $5 million in venture capital funding from Split Rock Partners, which it will use to “support its rapid growth.”
Minneapolis-based Alvenda's commerce-enabled advertising network helps retailers sell their goods all over the Internet. Instead of operating one e-commerce shop, companies open 1,000 or a million with a shoppable ad. Branded to each retailer, the highly interactive shoplets encourage consumers to enlarge a banner ad, browse, and shop while remaining on their original Web site. It launched its first customer in May 2009 and has been rapidly adding customers ever since. They include Brooks Brothers, Hallmark, and Mark.
“Since launching the industry's first e-commerce store on Facebook with 1-800-Flowers.com, Alvenda has experienced strong demand from leading merchants,” Split Rock Partners Managing Partner Michael Gorman, who will sit on Alvenda's board of directors, said in a statement. “It has a robust pipeline of new customers and innovative products.”
Alvenda was founded in 2008 by Wade Gerten and Brian Howe, executives with domain experience in online marketing, retail software, and interactive advertising. Prior to starting Alvenda, Gerten was an executive at Oracle Retail, and Howe headed marketing for Target.com.
“The majority of future online sales will happen offsite,” Gerten said in a statement. “Customers will be able to shop with brands wherever they happen to be on the Web, whether they're on YouTube, a favorite blogger Web site, or in Facebook. Alvenda's customers are moving commerce forward to touch these points and are generating remarkable sales results.”
In September, Alvenda was named the grand-prize winner of this year’s Minnesota Cup—a statewide competition that seeks out aspiring entrepreneurs and their breakthrough business ideas. More than 1,000 participants competed. To read more about the company, click here.
Split Rock Partners—which has offices in Minneapolis and Menlo Park, California—seeks emerging opportunities in Internet services, software, and health care. The company closed a $275 million inaugural fund in April 2005 and a second, $300 million fund in May 2008.
