Upserve
Industry | Direct Marketing, Software |
---|---|
Founded | 2009 |
Headquarters | Providence, Rhode Island |
Key people | Angus Davis, Josh Kopelman, and Reid Hoffman |
Products | Rich Internet application |
Website |
upserve |
Upserve, originally Swipely, is a service that sells payments, analytics, and marketing tools to local merchants. The online software works with point-of-sale systems and terminals used by independent businesses including restaurants, salons, boutiques, grocers and other retailers without additional hardware.[1] Merchants in the Upserve network use the product to interact with customer spending, social media, and other data.[2]
In 2013, Forbes magazine included Swipely in its list of the top 100 “America’s Most Promising Companies.”[3] Upserve’s CEO, Angus Davis, was named to Forbes list of “America’s Most Promising CEOs Under 35.”[4]
History and services
Swipely was founded in 2009 by Angus Davis, the co-founder of Tellme Networks, which was acquired by Microsoft in 2007.[5][6][7] Swipely was formerly a social network in which members shared their purchases with friends.[8][9][10] After its launch, Swipely was often compared to another social shopping website called Blippy.[11][12]
Swipely officially launched on May 11, 2010 as an invite-only, social shopping service that allowed users to share information about their purchases.[13] In February 2011, Swipely evolved into a loyalty platform for local merchants to reward repeat customers. The loyalty service began in Rhode Island and expanded to Boston in December 2011 with 150 participating local merchants.[14] In April 2012, the “Main Street Marketing Manager” loyalty platform for small businesses launched nationally with an update that included customer-specific communications such as “thank you” messages and targeted offers.[15]
As of December 2012, Swipely expanded its loyalty service to become an all-in-one payments, analytics, and marketing solution for local merchants.[16] Swipely’s loyalty service works with a merchant’s current credit card point-of-sales system with no additional cost.[17] The “Winter 2013” release added new features such as a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool to keep track of customers, Swipely Heat Map to monitor a merchant’s hourly sales performance, and a partnership with American Express that provides next-day funding on American Express transactions.[16][18] The Winter 2013 upgrade also tied into social media, and illustrates to merchants how weather, Facebook posts, and other factors impact their customers’ buying patterns.[19]
Swipely changed its name to Upserve in March 2016.[20]
Financials and expansion
The Providence start-up[21] was the first Rhode Island-based software company to raise $7.5 million in Series A venture capital.[22] In all, Swipely raised $8.5 million in funds.[23] Founder and CEO Angus Davis sits on Swipely's board of directors along with Danny Rimer, partner at Index Ventures, and Josh Kopelman, partner at First Round Capital.[23] Reid Hoffman, partner at Greylock and co-founder and executive chairman at LinkedIn, is a board observer.[24] Additional investors include Lowercase Capital led by Chris Sacca, and angel investor Ron Conway.[23][25]
In December 2012, the monthly sales transactions processed through Swipely’s system exceeded $12 million, an increase from $4 million a month in September 2012.[1][26] Approximately $250 million in sales were processed on the Swipely platform during that same period, and merchants used the platform to review data on 500,000 customers.[16][27]
As of February 2013, Swipely has more than $400 million in sales under management, with data on more than 875,000 consumers for several hundred merchant-clients.[28]
Reception
Swipely was named one of Forbes magazine’s “America’s Most Promising Companies” in 2013.[3] The company is the first Rhode Island-based firm on this Forbes list.[29] CEO Davis has also been included on the Forbes list of “America’s Most Promising CEOs Under 35.”[4]
References
- 1 2 Baverman, Laura. “Swipely Brings Big Data to Small Biz.” Upstart Business Journal. Nov. 8, 2012
- ↑ Tomio, Geron. “Swipely Expands Credit Card-Based Loyalty Service.” Forbes magazine. Dec. 15, 2011
- 1 2 “America’s Most Promising Companies.” Forbes magazine. Feb. 2013
- 1 2 “America’s Most Promising CEOs Under 35.” Forbes magazine
- ↑ Kara Swisher (2010-05-11). "Swipely Nabs $7.5 Million in Series A Funding for Social Spending (And to Attack Blippy!)". All Things D.
- ↑ Sally Herships (2010-06-02). "Social shopping sites high in data value". NPR Marketplace.
- ↑ Microsoft Purchase Of Tellme Adds Voice To Web Initiative. The Wall Street Journal. March 15, 2007. Retrieved 2009-06-01.
- ↑ MG Siegler (2010-05-11). "You Could See Swipely's $7.5 Million Round On Blippy, But You Won't On Swipely". TechCrunch.
- ↑ Brad Stone (2010-05-11). "Swipely Enters the Social Shopping Field". The Wall Street Journal.
- ↑ Ylan Q. Mui (2010-05-22). "In shoppers' online networks, privacy has no price tag". The Washington Post.
- ↑ Gannes, Liz. "Swipely Aims to (Politely) Turn Purchases into Conversations". Article May 10, 2010. Gigaom. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
- ↑ Geron, Tomio (December 15, 2011). "Swipely Expands Credit Card-Based Loyalty Service". Forbes. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
- ↑ "Swipely Aims to (Politely) Turn Purchases Into Conversations". GigaOm. 2010-05-11.
- ↑ Alspach, Kyle. “Swipely vs. LevelUp: Battle in Boston Over Customer Loyalty Tech.” Boston Business Journal. Dec. 15, 2011
- ↑ Greenhalgh, Emily. "Swipely launches 'Main Street Marketing Manager.' Providence Business News. Apr. 4, 2012
- 1 2 3 Khan, Humayun. “Swipely Adds CRM Solution to Help Merchants Tie Loyalty to Credit Card Purchases.” BetaKit. Dec. 18, 2012
- ↑ Thomas, Owen. “When Hurricane Sandy Struck, This Company Changed Its Entire Sales Plan—In Minutes.” Business Insider. Jan. 19, 2013
- ↑ “Swipely Expands Service to Reveal the Customer Behind Every Transaction." Press release. Dec. 18, 2012
- ↑ Schicktanz, Julie. “Swipely Expands Payment Acceptance Platform for Local Merchants.” Finovate. Dec. 19, 2012
- ↑ Bramson, Kate. "Providence's data company Swipely now Upserve, reflecting focus on restaurateurs". The Providence Journal. Retrieved 2016-03-17.
- ↑ Nesi, Ted. "Executive Suite." WPRI Eyewitness News. Dec. 31, 2012
- ↑ Lacy, Sarah. “Swipely Is Processing $250m in Payments all from Tiny Rhode Island.” Pando Daily. Dec. 7, 2012
- 1 2 3 Gonsalves, Antone. “Swipely Testing Shoppers Social Network.” Information Week. May 12, 2010
- ↑ "Reid Hoffman: Partner." Greylock Partners website. Accessed Feb. 21, 2013
- ↑ Stone, Brad. “Swipely Enters the Social Shopping Field.” The New York Times. May 11, 2010
- ↑ Alspach, Kyle. “Startup Q&A: Angus Davis of Swipely Talks Payments Tech.” Boston Business Journal. Dec. 28, 2012
- ↑ Frick, Walter. “Swipely Hits Half a Million Customers.” BostInno. Dec. 18, 2012
- ↑ "Swipely, Davis Recognized by Forbes." Providence Business News. Feb. 6, 2013
- ↑ McGowan, Dan. “Providence-based Swipely Named to Forbes’ List of America’s 'Most Promising Companies'" WNAC-TV. Feb. 8, 2013
Further reading
- Kim, Ryan (December 17, 2012). "Swipely hits its stride combining payments, analytics and loyalty". Gigaom. Retrieved October 11, 2016.
- Wang, Selina (August 10, 2016). "Square Gives Loans to Restaurants Outside Network With Upserve". Bloomberg. Retrieved October 11, 2016.
- Grove, Jennifer Van (February 28, 2011). "Swipely Swaps Public Purchase-Sharing for Private Savings". Mashable. Retrieved October 11, 2016.
- Martin, Dylan (March 7, 2016). "Swipely Is Now Upserve & It's Leaning on AI to Make Restaurants Smarter". BostInno. Retrieved October 11, 2016.
- Wilhelm, Alex (September 24, 2013). "Now Processing $1B Annually, Swipely Announces A Partner Network To Support Growth". TechCrunch. Retrieved October 11, 2016.