Toronto-based Influitive Inc., a startup firm that allows businesses to use their customer advocates as a marketing resource, has raised $3.75 million in a seed round of financing, it announced today.
There are 11 venture capital firms taking part in the funding round, according to a blog post from CEO and founder Mark Organ. That’s in addition to funding from CommonAngels and 10 individual angel investors, one of which is Howard Morgan.
The investors range from Silicon Valley to Toronto to Europe and Asia, Organ says in his post. It will see James Geshwiler, the managing director of CommonAngels, added to Influitive’s board of directors. Funding is being contributed by First Round Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, New Enterprise Associates, Relay Ventures, Illuminate Ventures, 500Startups, and more.
“Advocate marketing may not play the leading role in marketing operations today, but we feel that is going to change dramatically over the next few years,” Organ writes. “We want to make sure that we have the fuel that we need to capitalize on the opportunity, and generate positive cash flow from operations and/or attract a materially larger round of financing 18-24 months from now.”
Influitive’s main product is AdvocateHub. It allows businesses to create an online portal for their best advocates. The online space allows the company to create advocate challenges, which result in advocates engaging in marketing activities for the company. It’s a free service for users managing less than 20 advocates. Professional plans begin at $500 per month for more users.
Previously, Organ founded Eloqua, a software firm that recently went public on the Nasdaq.
