Upserve

Swipely
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.com

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. 1 2 Baverman, Laura. “Swipely Brings Big Data to Small Biz.” Upstart Business Journal. Nov. 8, 2012
  2. ↑ Tomio, Geron. “Swipely Expands Credit Card-Based Loyalty Service.” Forbes magazine. Dec. 15, 2011
  3. 1 2 “America’s Most Promising Companies.” Forbes magazine. Feb. 2013
  4. 1 2 “America’s Most Promising CEOs Under 35.” Forbes magazine
  5. ↑ Kara Swisher (2010-05-11). "Swipely Nabs $7.5 Million in Series A Funding for Social Spending (And to Attack Blippy!)". All Things D.
  6. ↑ Sally Herships (2010-06-02). "Social shopping sites high in data value". NPR Marketplace.
  7. ↑ Microsoft Purchase Of Tellme Adds Voice To Web Initiative. The Wall Street Journal. March 15, 2007. Retrieved 2009-06-01.
  8. ↑ MG Siegler (2010-05-11). "You Could See Swipely's $7.5 Million Round On Blippy, But You Won't On Swipely". TechCrunch.
  9. ↑ Brad Stone (2010-05-11). "Swipely Enters the Social Shopping Field". The Wall Street Journal.
  10. ↑ Ylan Q. Mui (2010-05-22). "In shoppers' online networks, privacy has no price tag". The Washington Post.
  11. ↑ Gannes, Liz. "Swipely Aims to (Politely) Turn Purchases into Conversations". Article May 10, 2010. Gigaom. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
  12. ↑ Geron, Tomio (December 15, 2011). "Swipely Expands Credit Card-Based Loyalty Service". Forbes. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
  13. ↑ "Swipely Aims to (Politely) Turn Purchases Into Conversations". GigaOm. 2010-05-11.
  14. ↑ Alspach, Kyle. “Swipely vs. LevelUp: Battle in Boston Over Customer Loyalty Tech.” Boston Business Journal. Dec. 15, 2011
  15. ↑ Greenhalgh, Emily. "Swipely launches 'Main Street Marketing Manager.' Providence Business News. Apr. 4, 2012
  16. 1 2 3 Khan, Humayun. “Swipely Adds CRM Solution to Help Merchants Tie Loyalty to Credit Card Purchases.” BetaKit. Dec. 18, 2012
  17. ↑ Thomas, Owen. “When Hurricane Sandy Struck, This Company Changed Its Entire Sales Plan—In Minutes.” Business Insider. Jan. 19, 2013
  18. ↑ “Swipely Expands Service to Reveal the Customer Behind Every Transaction." Press release. Dec. 18, 2012
  19. ↑ Schicktanz, Julie. “Swipely Expands Payment Acceptance Platform for Local Merchants.” Finovate. Dec. 19, 2012
  20. ↑ Bramson, Kate. "Providence's data company Swipely now Upserve, reflecting focus on restaurateurs". The Providence Journal. Retrieved 2016-03-17.
  21. ↑ Nesi, Ted. "Executive Suite." WPRI Eyewitness News. Dec. 31, 2012
  22. ↑ Lacy, Sarah. “Swipely Is Processing $250m in Payments all from Tiny Rhode Island.” Pando Daily. Dec. 7, 2012
  23. 1 2 3 Gonsalves, Antone. “Swipely Testing Shoppers Social Network.” Information Week. May 12, 2010
  24. ↑ "Reid Hoffman: Partner." Greylock Partners website. Accessed Feb. 21, 2013
  25. ↑ Stone, Brad. “Swipely Enters the Social Shopping Field.” The New York Times. May 11, 2010
  26. ↑ Alspach, Kyle. “Startup Q&A: Angus Davis of Swipely Talks Payments Tech.” Boston Business Journal. Dec. 28, 2012
  27. ↑ Frick, Walter. “Swipely Hits Half a Million Customers.” BostInno. Dec. 18, 2012
  28. ↑ "Swipely, Davis Recognized by Forbes." Providence Business News. Feb. 6, 2013
  29. ↑ McGowan, Dan. “Providence-based Swipely Named to Forbes’ List of America’s 'Most Promising Companies'" WNAC-TV. Feb. 8, 2013

Further reading

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