OwnLocal provides digital-advertising products including AdForge, which converts print ads into digital campaigns through SEO and SEM, and Local Hero, a social-media-powered directory that surfaces social conversations for advertisers. The company also offers the AdTaxi platform targeted at larger local and national advertisers. In February 2013 OwnLocal received an equity investment from Digital First Ventures intended to expand OwnLocal’s services across the Digital First Media network and to complement its AdTaxi platform. The amount of the transaction was not disclosed in the report. OwnLocal was founded in 2010 by CEO Lloyd Armbrust and is based in Austin, TX. The company has previously raised funding from investors and programs including Y Combinator, Baseline Ventures, Lerer Media Ventures, Automattic, the Knight Foundation, 500 Startups, Paul Buchheit, Joshua Schachter, Alex Moore and others. OwnLocal is an Austin-based digital agency service that helps local news organizations increase their online revenues. Founded in 2010 by CEO Lloyd Armbrust, the company provides digital monetization tools to traditional offline local media outlets, including newspapers, television and radio stations. The company intends to use the new capital to expand its service offerings and broaden its market reach. The round brings the total amount raised by the company to around $2m in the last 18 months. Investors named in the article include Automattic, Baseline Ventures, the Knight Enterprise Fund, 500 Startups, Justin Kitch and other angel investors. In conjunction with the investment, 500 Startups’ Principal Paul Singh has joined OwnLocal as an advisor. Seeing Interactive launched in Y Combinator last March and offers a white-label service that helps local newspapers sell online ads and services to local businesses. The product converts existing print ads into online ads, lists businesses in SEO-optimized directories, and can build simple websites via Weebly. Directory pages include maps, address, phone, descriptions, business hours, and Facebook Connect–enabled reviews. The company leverages newspapers' existing salesforces and is already working with 87 newspapers. It currently sells print ads for roughly $200 and can convert those into online ads for an additional roughly $5. iPhone and Android local directory apps are in development.

Total raised

$1M

Funding rounds

3

Latest round

Seed

Latest activity

Jun 2010