Demand for Product and Content Recommendations Powered by Community Wisdom
Exceeds Forecasts
CUPERTINO, Calif., April 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Baynote, Inc., the leader in
content guidance software for the business web, today announced that the
Company has secured $10.75 million in Series B funding. The round was led
by Steamboat Ventures, the venture capital arm of The Walt Disney Company,
with participation from Series A investors Hummer Winblad Venture Partners,
JK&B Capital and Chess Ventures. Concurrent with the investment, Dan Beldy,
managing director of Steamboat Ventures, has joined Baynote's Board of
Directors.
The latest round, which brings total funding for Baynote to more than
$15 million, will be used to accelerate the company's growth, particularly
within the e-commerce sector. Interest from online retailers in real-time
product and content recommendations based on Baynote's patent-pending
UseRank(TM) technology has risen sharply. The new funds will be invested in
R&D and customer operations to ensure Baynote continues to innovate and
maintain exceptional customer service while scaling to meet growing demand.
Offered as a suite of Web 2.0 services, Baynote's Content Guidance
software uses the "wisdom of community," or the implicit, emergent
behaviors of peers, experts and the greater community to guide website
visitors to the products, content, and social search results that increase
website conversions. For online retailers, Baynote presents shoppers with
other products and related accessories that have proven up-sell and
cross-sell capability, automatically increasing website conversion rates
and average order sizes. Baynote's Product and Content Recommendation
capabilities deliver an average of 20 percent top-line revenue increase for
e-commerce sites, and 500 to 1000 percent increases in visitor conversions
across all e-marketing initiatives.
"Baynote boosts conversion rates and improves the online experience
because it understands what customers desire rather than just what they
click on," said Dan Beldy, managing director, Steamboat Ventures. "This
'intent'- driven approach is powerful, guiding web site visitors to the
products and services they want most. For e-commerce and online media
properties, Baynote is an ideal, accretive software service that allows the
$250 billion online retail sector to deliver double digit revenue growth to
their top-line."
"Baynote-powered e-commerce sites reflect how successful shoppers
actually use the website to acquire products and services," said Jack Jia,
founder and CEO, Baynote Inc. "Baynote calls this understanding of shoppers
'eCommerce Wisdom,' which guides successive visitors to the products they
are most likely to purchase."
About Steamboat Ventures
With offices in Los Angeles, Shanghai and Hong Kong, Steamboat Ventures
is a global venture capital fund that invests in digital media and consumer
technology companies in the U.S. and Asia. Steamboat Ventures pursues a
distinctive investment strategy, cultivating investment opportunities that
are simultaneously financially promising and also possess the potential to
have significant strategic interest to The Walt Disney Company. Founded in
2000, Steamboat Ventures has invested in a range of leading digital media
and consumer technology companies, including: Fastclick (acquired by VCLK),
Iridigm Display Corporation (acquired by QCOM), Pure Digital Technologies,
RazorGator, Quigo Technologies, Move Networks, and EMN8. For more
information, please visit http://www.steamboatvc.com.
About Baynote
Founded in November 2004, Baynote is the technology leader in on-demand
content guidance software for business websites and web applications.
Baynote increases e-commerce, online marketing, and support conversions by
delivering product recommendations, targeted content suggestions, and
socially-driven search results with its patent-pending UseRank(TM)
technology. For more information, please visit http://www.baynote.com.
NOTE: Baynote(TM) and UseRank(TM) are registered trademarks of Baynote,
Inc. All other trademarks are properties of their respective owners.
Media Contact:
Bill Bourdon
Bateman Group for Baynote
415-602-1491
baynote@bateman-group.com
SOURCE
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