ADOTAS, founded in 2003, is a premier news publication focused on the Internet advertising and media industry. ADOTAS’ emphasis is on providing the best news and information on media buying, planning, selling, technology and activities of the digital media business to the interactive advertising community. They are proud to have over 100 contributing writers delivered by the foremost experts in the field.

ADOTAS recently published an article about ShopIgniter and Arkayne’s recent close of funding. For those of you that are unaware of what ShopIgniter does, they’ve created a product that delivers an extensible, cloud-based ecommerce solution integrating store management, merchandising and product content across physical retail, branded web site and the social web. Or simply put, ShopIgniter allows your business to live within Facebook and Twitter.

You can see the original article below:

ADOTAS – Social media and ecommerce integration is an idea venture capitalist are opening their checkbooks to: ShopIgnite garnered $3 million from a Series A round of funding led by Madrona Venture Group

In addition, Madrona partner and former Yahoo! VP Matt Compton is grabbing the reigns as CEO of the startup. Madrona Managing Partner, Tom Alberg, who also sits on Amazon’s board of directors, will take a seat on ShopIgnite’s board.

The company’s platform allows retailers, wholesalers and brands to merchandise products on Facebook and hunt for customers on Twitter, as well as manage their online store functionality through a straightforward dashboard. ShopIgnite claims that its services boost online sales by as much as 30%.

In other funding news, interactive marketing software developer Arkayne scooped up more than $1 million in an initial round of Angel funding. The company’s Plugin SaaS offering links site visitors from one page to others within a single site or customer-designated network of sites by displaying relevant links. Arkayne will launch another product in the spring as well as an upgrade for Plugin.

Via Gavin Dunaway at ADOTAS.com

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$1 Million Angel funding plus enterprise customers gives Arkayne strong start

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Arkayne, Inc., a developer of interactive marketing software that helps businesses improve their online performance and content strategy, today announces it has closed its initial round of Angel funding totaling just over $1 million. The seed round was funded by seasoned technology entrepreneurs and investors, including the Arizona Technology Investor Forum (ATIF). Arkayne plans to use the infusion of capital, along with revenue from early enterprise customers to fund its quickly growing team of technology, sales and marketing professionals, as well as build out the organization’s infrastructure.

“Arkayne is one of the more exciting ventures funded by ATIF and we’re looking forward to seeing great things from this company on the national stage.” “The Arkayne engine could not be a more timely solution for businesses that depend on their Web sites for monetization and it’s already showing success for major companies that live and die by their visitor numbers,” said Nicholas Aretakis, CEO of Arkayne. “Our early investors saw the huge potential and we were able to increase the offering and become 100 percent over-subscribed in a very challenging economic climate. We feel this initial infusion gives us the perfect spring board to get our first two products off the ground.”

The first stage investors were attracted to Arkayne’s suite of solutions because they give businesses a new way of assessing their content strategy for greater conversion and monetization. Arkayne’s Plugin, it’s first software as a service (SaaS) offering, works by linking site visitors from one Web page to others within a single Web site, or a customer designated network of sites, by displaying links that are relevant to what they are reading. This provides a more meaningful experience for site visitors, which makes them stay within single sites and networks longer, engage more, convert more often, and ultimately create higher value and monetization.

This spring, Arkayne will formally announce the general availability of another product, and an add-on to the Plugin, both designed for significantly improving online performance. One is aimed at giving businesses ultimate visibility into their content strategy and how it stacks ups to their competitors, partners and target audiences. The other augments the Plugin product by providing site owners, including business Web sites and professional marketers, the ability to easily monetize without the traditional advertising model.

“ATIF investors were impressed by the strong management team and technology talent at Arkayne. Their unique suite of products and ability to execute make for a compelling investment,” said Paul Winandy, Executive Director of ATIF. “Arkayne is one of the more exciting ventures funded by ATIF and we’re looking forward to seeing great things from this company on the national stage.”

Arkayne is measuring the successful results of its early customers and quickly building out its next two complementary solutions. The Arkayne management team is led by seasoned entrepreneur and technology veteran, Nicholas Aretakis. He and CTO and founder Paul Kenjora, who has a substantial background in software, complex data mining and IT development, are quickly building out the Arkayne team that is needed to support the fast growth already experienced by the company.

About Arkayne, Inc.

Arkayne, Inc. provides Internet marketing software that helps businesses improve their online marketing performance, generate more leads and convert a higher percentage of those leads into paying customers. Arkayne’s suite of software solutions includes tools that allow professional marketers, businesses and agencies to manage Web presence, content optimization, search engine optimization, blogging and social media, and content metrics. Based in Scottsdale, AZ, Arkayne can be found at http://www.arkayne.com.

Follow Arkayne on Twitter, Facebook, and the Arkayne blog:

http://blog.arkayne.com
http://twitter.com/arkayneinc
http://www.facebook.com/ArkayneInc

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