• Beyond the Rack

  Led · Equity · Jan 2010

  Beyond the Rack operates a flash-sale e-commerce site that launches roughly 8,000 new items daily and runs over 180 new sales events each week across categories including ladies' and men's fashions, home and decor, consumer electronics, furniture, footwear, children's toys and apparel, and accessories. The company was co-founded and is led by CEO Yona Shtern and has grown to more than 13 million consumer members in Canada and the United States and over 5,000 brand partners since first launching in 2009. Beyond the Rack maintains offices in Montreal, Toronto, New York and Las Vegas. The business secured a US$10M debt and banking facility to support ongoing operations. Management says the funds will be used to continue investing in growth. The company's core proposition remains focused on limited-time sales and high product turnover to drive member engagement. Beyond the Rack is a Montreal-based e-commerce platform offering designer brand apparel, accessories, beauty and home decor at discounted prices. Products are sold in the context of limited-quantity events, with members seeing up to 30 new events each day. The company reports over 10 million consumer members and 5,000 brand partnerships. It operates in both Canada and the United States with offices in Montreal, Toronto, New York and Las Vegas. The executive team includes CEO Yona Shtern, COO Mike Bhaskaran and President/Chief Merchandising Officer Jim Weinberg. The company says it will use the proceeds of the new funding to further expand operations. Beyond The Rack is a Montreal-based online shopping club that offers fashion, accessories, beauty and home décor at discounted prices via limited-quantity events (up to 15 new events each day). Led by Co-Founder and CEO Yona Shtern, the company operates a membership-based flash-sale model and has over 7.5 million members and relationships with more than 3,000 brands. It employs 400 full-time people in Montreal and New York. The company received a $10M venture debt financing from Wellington Financial LP and intends to use the proceeds to grow across North America. Beyond The Rack is backed by venture capital firms including BDC Venture Capital, Export Development Canada, Highland Capital Partners, iNovia Capital, Panorama Capital, Rho Canada and Tandem Expansion Fund. Recent reported financings include $36.6M in November 2011, $12M in July 2010 and $2M in January 2010. Beyond The Rack is a members-only flash-sales shopping site similar to Gilt Groupe that offers steep discounts (50–70%) on designer clothing, accessories, home decor and other goods. The site reports 5 million members, up from 1.5 million in July 2010. It has raised more than $50 million in total funding to date. Beyond The Rack plans to use new capital to enhance logistics and distribution and to accelerate growth. The company is competing in a crowded flash-sales market alongside players such as Gilt, Ideeli, One Kings Lane and Lot18. The site’s product focus and rapid member growth are central to its expansion strategy. Beyond the Rack is a Montreal-based members-only private shopping club offering moderate to luxury merchandise at up to 70% off retail. The company runs up to 18 private sales events per day across categories including ladies' and men's apparel, accessories, footwear, homeware, watches, jewelry, cosmetics and kids' items. It operates an office in New York and employs 200 full-time staff. Beyond the Rack reports over three million North American members. The company has raised $16.5M in venture capital to date and recently received a $3M loan from MMV Financial. Management, led by CEO Yona Shtern, intends to use the MMV proceeds to expand operations.

• Vanilla Forums

  Led · Series A · Jan 2010

  Vanilla Forums offers a cloud-based online community software platform that combines customer communities, Q&A, a knowledge base, and ideation. The product is designed to improve customer experience, drive brand loyalty, foster meaningful connections, and reduce support costs. The company said it will use the new funds to support growth and accelerate expansion into new markets. Vanilla was founded in 2009 and is led by CEO Luc Vezina. The investment amount was not disclosed in the article. The reported investor is Level Equity. Vanilla Forums operates Vanilla, an open source community forum software and a hosted forum platform that lets customers deploy community forums without writing code. The company has released two premium features—custom domains and ad-removal—to integrate with customers' web presence. It plans to add additional premium features including custom CSS, single sign-on, and forum analytics in the near future. Vanilla Forums is based in Montreal, Canada. The company closed a CAD$500,000 Series A and will use the funds to expand marketing, development and sales efforts. Investors in the round include Montreal Startup, eonBusiness, Klein Venture Partners and Norseman Capital.

• StatusNet

  Participated · Seed · Oct 2009

  StatusNet develops an open-source microblogging server and commercial products for internal corporate social communications. The company offers a commercial support subscription, the StatusNet Enterprise Network, and a SaaS offering, the StatusNet Cloud Service. Its software includes plug-ins to integrate with other enterprise applications and helps keep mobile workforces connected; Motorola uses the software for internal social communications. StatusNet also underlies the identi.ca service. Founder and CEO Evan Prodromou leads the company. The company is building an enterprise sales and support team to push its software into the Global 1,000 market. StatusNet has offices in Montreal and San Francisco and has raised $2.3 million in total funding to date. StatusNet develops an open-source micro-blogging platform and operates the hosting platform status.net. Its software runs hundreds of micro-blogging sites across the web. Founded in 2008 and based in Montreal, the company is led by CEO Evan Prodromou. The firm has a nine-person team providing service, support and hosting. StatusNet completed a financing to expand its commercial efforts and will use the capital to build sales, support and marketing to take its software and services to market.

No current team members are available.