附近上门

Last week, we took an up close look at two early-stage companies based in the Northwest U.S. who have fundraised from outside of the typical bay area hubs. Vacation rental company, Stay Alfred, and digital mapping company, onX, respectively raised $15 million and $20.3 million. However, half of the 46 early-stage companies from outside of Portland and Seattle that were funded since the beginning of last year were seed-stage startups that raised less than $2 million.

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With that in mind, 附近上门 News decided to take a look at two seed-stage tech companies, based in Idaho and Oregon, who have raised money in the past year. As their founders explained to 附近上门 News, the teams at Boise-based Refer and Eugene-based Connected Signals are aware of the limitations of being headquartered in the Northwest. However, both startups are confident that the cost of living combined with increasingly digital connections are working in their favor.

Boise, Idaho: Refer

Digital referral company was founded in 2014 by its current CEO . Its goal is to provide small business owners with an online platform to receive, send, and organize referrals.

As an experienced entrepreneur who founded two other tech firms, Gay said starting Refer was natural for him.

鈥淚 understand relationship marketing and referrals,鈥� he told 附近上门 News in an email. 鈥淸I] used these practices world-wide and, with the advent of SaaS, it just seemed that we could help a large potential market with a sizable, recurring problem.鈥�

The company raised $800,000 in a seed round with two outside investors according to the CEO. Previous early seed rounds in 2016 and 2017 were primarily led by Tom Gay. The company鈥檚 total known funds raised amounts to $3.5 million.

According to Gay, the company鈥檚 external fundraising has largely been aimed at local angel investors looking to build a network.

鈥淚t鈥檚 been a challenge getting Silicon Valley investors to look over the mountains to a place like Idaho,鈥� Gay explained.

However, he believes there are advantages to keeping headquarters in Idaho.

鈥淭here is a small but very talented tech base here with great developers and many more inbound from highly impacted CA markets,鈥� Gay explained. 鈥淪o if you鈥檙e looking at the typical 25-50 year old developer or entrepreneur, it鈥檚 hard to compare the lifestyle and costs.鈥�

In January, the company announced that it acquired a Boston-based SaaS company, , to expand its small business reach across the U.S. Though based in Boise, according to Gay, the company now reaches almost five million users with about half outside of the USA.

鈥淚n this digital world, there are no geographic boundaries鈥� and today [we] serve clients in over 200 countries and have virtual staff across the nation.鈥�

Eugene, Oregon: Connected Signals

Another seed-stage tech company making moves in the Northwest is Eugene, Oregon-based predictive traffic signal startup . The company was founded in 2013 by David Etherington and Matt Ginsberg with the goal to improve overall traffic and driving experience by connecting drivers and vehicles to traffic signal data.

In July 2017, the company raised round led by Palo Alto-based , bringing its total known funds raised to $2.8 million.

CEO Matt Ginsberg explained the pros and cons of fundraising from Eugene.

鈥淢any investors want the option of driving across town and dropping in, and we obviously can鈥檛 provide that,鈥� Ginsberg told 附近上门 News in an email.

But he said that the advantages of living outside of a big city area are clear.

鈥淲e are more efficient with money than organizations in the usual hubs, with total cost per staff member being perhaps 60 percent of what our investors typically expect,鈥� Ginsberg further explained.

And being outside of a venture hub hasn鈥檛 stopped the company from aiming to reach far and wide with its product.

鈥淲e currently get data from about 15,000 lights on three continents, and just opened an office in Geneva,鈥� Ginsberg wrote. 鈥淲e expect to have about 25 to 30 percent coverage in the U.S. by the end of the year.鈥�

With shared goals of safety, fuel efficiency, and convenience, the company also plans on partnering with players in the autonomous vehicle market.

鈥淎s the world becomes smaller, I think that the real question is going to be whether any particular company can hire enough talented technical staff,鈥� Ginsberg wrote. Regardless, he and his partner have managed to build a staff of highly educated, experienced professionals.

鈥淗iring is very different outside of a hub; we have to capitalize on the fact that Eugene is a university town with phenomenal quality of life,鈥� he expressed. 鈥淭here aren’t a whole lot of towns that fit that description.鈥�