Constant Contact Acquires Business Listings Startup SinglePlatform, Deal Worth Up To $100M - TechCrunch Constant Contact Acquires Business Listings Startup SinglePlatform, Deal Worth Up To $100M - TechCrunch

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Constant Contact Acquires Business Listings Startup SinglePlatform, Deal Worth Up To $100M - TechCrunch

Constant Contact Acquires Business Listings Startup SinglePlatform, Deal Worth Up To $100M - TechCrunch

Email marketing company Constant Contact has acquired SinglePlatform, a startup that helps local businesses manage their online presence.

The deal is for $65 million cash, plus a $5 million cash and equity earn out for employee retention, as well as another $30 million tied to revenue targets. Constant Contact CEO Gail Goodman says that to get the full revenue earn out, the SinglePlatform team would need to bring in about $75 million over the next two years.

Goodman says the acquired team will continue to operate “pretty independently” out of its New York City office (Constant Contact is headquartered in Waltham, Mass.), and that it will offer SinglePlatform as a standalone product. The startup’s CEO Wiley Cerilli will become general manager and vice president of SinglePlatform.

One big change: After the acquisition, SinglePlatform’s basic listings product will become free, while the company continues to charge for the full Digital Storefront product, which allows customers to add things like menus, services, and pricing to their listings. Why the change? For one thing, Goodman says many small businesses are coming to see having accurate contact information online as “a right, rather than something they should have to pay for.”

Both Goodman and Cerilli emphasize the connection between the companies’ missions, saying they’re trying to serve local businesses in complementary ways. There’s a lot of potential to introduce SinglePlatform’s 10,000 customers to Constant Contact, and to introduce SinglePlatform to Constant Contact’s 500,000 customers.

“SinglePlatform helps the consumer find the business — ConstantContact helps that business capture that consumer and turn them into a repeat customers,” Goodman says, adding, “There’s a great fit between the products, but not necessarily a need for deep technical integration.”

Yesterday, I wrote about Yext, a startup that also helps businesses update their listings across multiple sites, and that just raised funding at a $270 million valuation. Asked about how SinglePlatform stood out in the competitive landscape, Goodman points to the network of publishers who distribute its listings (including Foursquare, The New York Times, YP, and UrbanSpoon) and to the richness of the full digital storefront.

SinglePlatform has raised a total of $4.45 million in funding from investors including DFJ Gotham Ventures, New World Ventures, First Round Capital, RRE Ventures, and Jason Finger.


SinglePlatform, the world’s largest online provider of restaurant menus and local business storefronts, enables local businesses to publish information like their products, services, menus, photos, and prices, across thousands of the most popular media companies, search engines, mobile applications, travel guides, and local review sites. Founded in 2010 by Wiley Cerilli, a former founding partner and EVP of SeamlessWeb, SinglePlatform was named by Bloomberg BusinessWeek as one of “America’s Most Promising Startups of 2011”.

Learn more

Constant Contact provides email marketing, social media marketing, event marketing, and online survey tools to help small organizations grow their businesses by building stronger customer relationships. More than 500,000 small businesses, nonprofit organizations, and member associations rely on Constant Contact’s easy-to-use, affordable online tools to create and deliver personalized, professional communications that engage customers, members and prospects wherever they congregate online – from their email inboxes to their social networks. Launched in 1998, Constant Contact made email marketing simple...

Learn more


US-India hold talks as business climate worsens in Delhi - BBC News

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Financial crisis erases two decades of accumulated prosperity of US families - Economic Times

This vast loss of wealth was compounded by a loss of income, as the earnings of the median family fell by 7.7 percent over the same period.

The new data come from the Fed's release Monday of its triennial Survey of Consumer Finance, one of the broadest and deepest sources of information about the financial health of U.S. families. The latest survey is based on data collected in 2010. Figures are reported in 2010 dollars.

Unsurprisingly, the report is full of grim news, and although it is news from 18 months ago, fresher sources of economic data make clear that most households have since seen only modest increases, at best, in wealth and income.

Despite these setbacks, consumers have continued to spend surprising amounts of money in recent years, helping to keep the economy growing at a modest pace. The survey underscores where the money is coming from: Americans are saving less for future needs and making little progress in repaying debts.

The share of families saving anything over the previous year fell to 52 percent in 2010 from 56.4 percent in 2007. Other government statistics show that total savings have increased since 2007, suggesting that a smaller group of families are saving more money, while a growing number manage to save nothing.

The survey also found a shift in the reasons that families set aside money, illustrating the lack of confidence that is weighing on the pace of economic growth. More families said they were saving as a precautionary measure, to make sure they had sufficient liquidity to meet short-term needs. Fewer said they were saving for retirement, education or for a down payment on a home.

And the report highlighted the fact that households have made limited progress in reducing the amount that they owe to lenders. The share of households reporting any debt declined by 2.1 percentage points over the past three years, but 74.9 percent of households still owe something and the median amount of the debt did not change.

The drop in reported incomes could have increased the weight of those debts, requiring families to devote a larger share of income to debt payments. But one of the rare benefits of the crisis, lower interest rates, has helped to offset that effect. Families also have been able to reduce debt payments by refinancing into mortgages with longer terms and deferring repayment of student loans.

The survey also confirmed that Americans are shifting the kinds of debts that they carry. The share of families with credit card debt declined by 6.7 percentage points to 39.4 percent, and the median balance of that debt fell 16.1 percent to $2,600.   Families also reduced the number of credit cards that they carried, and 32 percent of families said they now had no cards, up from 27 percent in 2007.



Exclusive: Syria prints new money as deficit grows: bankers - Reuters

AMMAN | Wed Jun 13, 2012 6:25am EDT

AMMAN (Reuters) - Syria has released new cash into circulation to finance its fiscal deficit, flirting with inflation after violence and sanctions wiped out revenues and led to a severe economic contraction, bankers in Damascus say.

Four Damascus-based bankerssyria

told Reuters that new banknotes printed in Russia were circulating in trial amounts in the capital and Aleppo, the first such step since a popular revolt against President Bashar al-Assad began in 2011.

The four bankers said the new notes were being used not just to replace worn out currency but to ensure that salaries and other government expenses were paid, a step economists say could increase inflation and worsen the economic crisis.

The United Nations says Assad's forces have killed at least 10,000 people in a crackdown, and the government says more than 2,600 members of its security forces have died.

The four bankers, along with one business leader in touch with officials, said the new money had been printed in Russia, although they were not able to give the name of the firm that printed it. Two of the bankers said they had spoken to officials recently returned from Moscow where the issue was discussed.

"(The Russians) sent sample new banknotes that were approved and the first order has been delivered. I understand some new banknotes have been injected into the market," said one of the bankers. All requested anonymity.

Two other senior bankers in Damascus said they had heard from officials that a first order of an undisclosed amount of new currency had arrived in Syria from Russia, although they were unable to confirm whether it had entered circulation.

Outgoing Finance Minister Mohammad al-Jleilati said last week that Syria had discussed printing banknotes with Russian officials during economic talks at the end of May in Moscow. He said such a deal was "almost done", without going into details.

However, the central bank later denied through state media that any new currency had been circulated.

Goznak, the state firm that operates Russia's mint and has exclusive rights to secure printing technology, regularly prints money for other countries. It declined to comment.

"LAST RESORT"

Russia is one of Syria's major political backers and a close trading and economic partner. There are no sanctions in place that would bar a Russian firm from printing money for Syria.

Syrian money was previously printed in Austria by Oesterreichische Banknoten- und Sicherheitsdruck GmbH, a subsidiary of the Austrian central bank. That order was suspended last year because of European Union sanctions, an Austrian central bank spokesman said.

One of the four bankers described the decision to use newly printed money from Russia to pay the deficit as a "last resort" after several months of consideration.

Syria's deficit has swollen because of declining government revenues and loss of oil exports hit by sanctions. The government is loathe to impose unpopular measures to fight the deficit, like cutting subsidies or raising taxes.

"The deficit is there and it is already increasing and increasing quickly. And to finance it they have decided to print currency," said the senior businessman, who is familiar with the subject and in touch with monetary officials.

Bankers say a priority has been to continue salary payments for over 2 million state employees among a workforce of 4.5 million in a country of more than 21 million people.

"You cannot allow the public sector to collapse," said one of the bankers.‮‮‮‮‮‮‮‮‮‮ ‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬"People are getting their wages and there are no complaints if they are paid at the end of every month. If we reach a stage where they are not paid there will be a crisis."

Syria's $27 billion 2012 budget was the biggest in its history, taking many by surprise. Bankers say the spending surge was motivated by a desire to create more state jobs and maintain subsidies to help ward off wider discontent.

The private sector has suffered large scale layoffs, but workers in the public sector have kept their jobs and had steady wages despite a salary freeze.

Financing the spending has proven difficult. The central bank has exceeded borrowing limits from public banks, and private banks are reluctant to buy government bonds, one of the bankers said.

Inflation is already running at 30 percent, although the central bank considers it manageable.

Authorities have spent state funds on subsidies to keep the prices for household utilities and petrol unchanged, and have announced planned price controls on basic commodities. However, electricity prices for big industries have risen by 60 percent and the price of subsidized diesel fuel has also risen.

The authorities plan to inject only a small amount of new currency to prevent runaway inflation, said one of the bankers.

"But there is a limit to how much fresh money could be injected into the economy in such highly uncertain times. Reckless printing of money as a way of buying short term reprieve could be economic suicide," the banker added.

(Additional reporting by Fredrik Dahl in Vienna; Editing by Oliver Holmes and Peter Graff)



Morning business round-up: World Bank warning - BBC News

What made the business news in Asia and Europe this morning? Here's our daily business round-up:

Economic concerns continued to dominate headlines, with problems in the eurozone threatening to have an impact on economies outside the bloc.

Developing nations should brace themselves for weak growth and "tougher times", the World Bank has warned.

It said that there may be "a long period of volatility in the global economy" as the eurozone debt crisis escalates.

The bank forecast that developing economies would grow by 5.3% this year, down from 6.1% in 2011.

There was, however, some good news for the eurozone, with new data showing that inflation for the larger economies has eased.

And although the Spanish economy continues to suffer, not all the country's companies are struggling. Retailer Inditex, whose brands include Zara, posted a surge in profits and sales, sending the company's share price up 8%.

In Japan, there was a boost for machinery orders in April, a key indicator of capital expenditure.

In what was a positive sign for the economy, orders rose 5.7% from a month earlier. Most analysts had projected 1.5% growth.

Failed carmaker Saab has found a buyer, with the identity of the new owner due to be announced later on Wednesday. However, media in Sweden reported that the buyer was a Swedish-Chinese investment group.

Also being announced later is the result of a shareholder vote on remuneration at advertising group WPP. Chief executive Martin Sorrell is facing a backlash over his £6.8m package.

In the UK, the chief executive of the financial regulator has been speaking about one of the defining moments of the financial crisis.

Hector Sants disclosed to the BBC that the crisis that forced the nationalisation of Northern Rock bank might have been avoided if his advice had been heeded.

Also in the UK, one of the leading supermarkets, Sainsbury's, has seen a rise in sales due to the opening of smaller stores.

The figures come two days after the UK's largest supermarket group Tesco reported a fall in UK sales.

In the latest Business Daily podcast, the team examines how Europe is starting to think the unthinkable - what happens if the eurozone splits. The BBC's Chris Bowlby runs through some of the possible scenarios.



'Diablo 3' real-money auction house European launch date confirmed - Digital Spy


Seven arrested in alleged Mexican cartel scheme to launder money in horse racing - CNN

(CNN) -- Seven members of Mexico's Zetas cartel were arrested Tuesday after a U.S. indictment accused a total of 14 cartel members of laundering drug money through the breeding and racing of American quarter horses in the United States, authorities said.

Los Zetas leader Miguel Angel Trevino Morales, 38, and his two brothers were named in the federal indictment, and brother Jose Trevino Morales, 45, and his wife, 38-year-old Zulema Trevino, were among the seven arrested, federal authorities said.

The 14 defendants were charged with a conspiracy using horse racing and breeding to launder the cartel's drug money, authorities said.

"The allegations in this indictment, if proven, would document yet another example of the corrupting influence of Mexican drug cartels within the United States, facilitated by the enormous profits generated by the illicit drug trade," U.S. Attorney Robert Pitman of the Western District of Texas said in a statement.

Opinion: Illicit funds from Mexico find haven in U.S.

Since 2008, cartel leader Miguel Angel Trevino Morales and brother Oscar Omar Trevino Morales directed millions of dollars in drug money to brother Jose and his wife for buying, training, breeding and racing quarter horses in New Mexico, Oklahoma, California and Texas, authorities said. Jose Trevino, his wife and others disguised the ownership of the horses through the use of "front" companies, authorities said.

Among the horses that were part of the alleged laundering operations were Tempting Dash, winner of the Dash for Cash at Lone Star Park racetrack in Grand Prairie, Texas, on October 24, 2009, and Mr. Piloto, winner of the $1 million All American Futurity at Ruidoso Downs on Labor Day 2010 in Ruidoso, New Mexico, authorities said.

Federal authorities are seeking forfeiture of those race horses and others named Dashin Follies, Coronita Cartel and Separate Fire -- as well as property in Lexington, Oklahoma, and Bastrop County, Texas, and money in three bank accounts, officials said.

The indictment alleges the horse racing and breeding conspiracy raised $20 million, and authorities are seeking a monetary judgment in that amount, officials said.

The Los Zetas cartel, headquartered in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, directly across the border from Laredo, Texas, is Mexico's largest drug cartel in terms of territory and has operations in 11 Mexican states, the indictment said.

The cartel sends thousands of kilograms of cocaine and other drugs annually to the United States, generating many millions of dollars, the indictment said.

"This case is a prime example of the ability of Mexican drug cartels to establish footholds in legitimate U.S. industries and highlights the serious threat money laundering causes to our financial system," Richard Weber, chief of IRS Criminal Investigation, said in a statement.

The five other people arrested Tuesday are Fernando Solis Garcia, 29, in Ruidoso; 26-year-old Carlos Miguel Nayen Borbolla, 32-year-old Adan Farias and 28-year-old Felipe Alejandro Quintero in Los Angeles; and Eusevio Maldonado Huitron, 48, in Austin, Texas, authorities said.

Cartel leader Miguel Angel Trevino Morales and brother Oscar Omar Trevino Morales, 36, are believed to be in Mexico, authorities said.

The five others indicted who haven't been arrested as of Tuesday are Raul Ramirez, 20, of El Paso, Texas; Francisco Antonio Colorado Cessa, 51, of Veracruz, Mexico; Victor Manuel Lopez, 31, of Nuevo Laredo; and Sergio Rogelio Guerrero Rincon, 40, and Luis Gerardo Aguirre, 35, both of Mexico, authorities said.

In small-town USA, business as usual for Mexican cartels



National Business Awards Extends Entry Deadline - Yahoo Finance

LONDON, June 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --



*Entries now open until 27th June 2012*

- With Photo

The National Business Awards in partnership with Orange has today announced the extension of the entries deadline to Wednesday 27th June 2012, giving UK businesses an additional two weeks to perfect their submissions.  

     (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120613/537877-a )

     (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120613/537877-b )

Now is the last chance to take part in Britain's most prestigious business awards.  The most respected accolade for business in the UK, the National Business Awards are based on the core principles of recognising business excellence, innovation and ethics across the full spectrum of private, public and third sector enterprises.

Organisations from all regions across the UK, from SMEs to FTSE 100s, are invited to register for award categories ranging from the Orange Innovation Award (won in 2011 by Harvard Engineering), to the Sustainability Award (won in 2011 by InterfaceFLOR), through to Entrepreneur of the Year (won by Paul Lindley, Founder of Ella's Kitchen in 2011) and Online Business of the Year (won by Naked Wines in 2011).

Paul Lindley of Ella's Kitchen said: "It was a great honour to win a National Business Award and a fantastic opportunity for us to shout about our work and achievements at Ella's Kitchen.  It was a great way to help motivate our staff, and inspire us to do even better, through creating a competitive edge with a clear reward."

Rowan Gormley of Naked Wines said: "Winning was like sitting in a rocket after the blue touch paper got lit. Partners who turned their noses up at us started calling us. Suppliers who wanted cash up front accepted normal credit terms. Visitor numbers jumped double digits. And my mum finally thinks I done good!"

The Awards have distinguished themselves by the quality of businesses taking part and the robust judging process. Led by Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone as Chair of Judges, nearly 100 multi discipline CEOs and senior directors participate as judges, bringing their expertise and insight to the three-tier judging process.

Finalists will be announced in August and winners will be revealed at the National Business Awards gala dinner and awards ceremony in London at the Grosvenor House Hotel, Tuesday 13th November. To enter or nominate for this year's campaign visit http://www.nationalbusinessawards.co.uk or call 0207 234 8755.

The National Business Awards supports Help for Heroes, a charity that offers support and advice for wounded soldiers.

Awards categories 2012

Categories open to enter:

  • The Orange Innovation Award
  • The BlackBerry Growth Strategy of the Year
  • The ICAEW Sustainability Award
  • The Santander Small to Medium Sized Business of the Year
  • The Huawei Customer Focus Award
  • The Croner Employer of the Year
  • Transformational Change of the Year
  • Start-up Business of the Year
  • Small Online Business of the Year
  • E-commerce Strategy of the Year
  • Business Enabler of the Year
  • The Entrepreneur of the Year

Categories run by nomination only:

  • The Orange Leader of the Year
  • The Daily Telegraph Award for a Decade of Excellence
  • The 3i International Growth Business of the Year
  • The Leadership Diversity Award
  • Coutts FTSE 100 Business of the Year

About the National Business Awards

Open to organisations of all sizes from all sectors across the UK, the National Business Awards in partnership with Orange is the UK's most prestigious independent business recognition platform with its particular emphasis on excellence, innovation and ethical business.  Now in its eleventh year, the National Business Awards connects the nations' professionals through its annual awards ceremony; year-round thought leadership and round table events; and is UBM plc's flagship awards programme. Visit http://www.nationalbusinessawards.co.uk for further information or follow us on Twitter @businessawards.

About Help for Heroes

Help for Heroes (H4H) was founded by Bryn and Emma Parry after a profoundly moving visit to Selly Oak Hospital in the summer of 2007. Bryn and Emma met some extraordinarily brave young men who had been badly wounded and they just wanted to do something to help.  The charity was launched in October 2007 and provides direct, practical support for those wounded, injured or who have become sick in the line of duty and their families. 

About Orange UK

Orange is the key brand of the France Telecom Group, one of the world's leading telecommunications operators. With almost 131 million customers, the Orange brand now covers Internet, television and mobile services in the majority of countries where the Group operates.

In the UK, Orange provides high quality GSM coverage to 99% of the UK population, and 3G coverage to more than 93%.

Orange and any other Orange product or service names included in this material are trade marks of Orange Brand Services Limited.

On July 1 2010, the company became part of Everything Everywhere, one company that runs two of Britain's most famous brands - Orange UK and T-Mobile UK - with plans to transform the industry by giving customers instant access to everything, everywhere, offering them the best value, best choice and best network coverage in the country. Everything Everywhere Limited is the UK's biggest communications company, with a combined customer base of almost 28 million people and more than 720 retail stores across the country. Everything Everywhere Limited is registered at Hatfield Business Park, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, AL10 9BW under the registered company number 02382161.

For more information please call the Orange Press Office +44(0)870-3731500, or visit http://www.orange.co.uk/newsroom

Note to Editors:

Pictures accompanying this release are available through the PA Photowire. These can be downloaded from http://www.pa-mediapoint.press.net or viewed at http://www.mediapoint.press.net or http://www.prnewswire.co.uk.

For further information or interview opportunities contact:

Rachel Branigan
PR Manager
UBM Awards and Partnerships
Tel: +44(0)207-955-3843
Email: Rachel.branigan@ubm.com

Annelle Botha
Head of PR and Marketing
UBM Awards and Partnerships
Tel: +44(0)207-234-8753
Email: annelle.botha@ubm.com


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