Sway, Inc. Announces $2 Million Series A Funding Round

Investment capital to enable social media marketing platform, Shoutlet, continued growth.

Middleton, WI (PRWEB) January 19, 2010

Sway, Inc. announced today it has secured a $2 million Series A funding round to support the continued profitable growth of Shoutlet, its social media content distribution and communications platform. The financing was co-led by Origin Ventures and Leo Capital Holdings, both based in suburban Chicago. This funding follows a $1.2 million seed round raised in 2007.

The financing allows Sway to enable its growing list of Shoutlet clients to achieve even greater success through managing and coordinating all of their social media communications. Current Shoutlet customers include American Family Insurance, Solo, and Cannondale, among many others.

“We are very excited to be investors in Sway and to work with our co-investors at Leo Capital Holdings and with management of the company to grow the market for the Shoutlet platform. Shoutlet is a game-changing technology that empowers brands to market themselves with maximum impact through all major social media outlets,” said Steve Miller, Managing Director at Origin Ventures. “We see tremendous potential for the platform and for Sway, as all companies looking to manage and coordinate their social media Internet marketing are potential customers,” added Miller.

With enterprises across the world ramping up budgets for social media marketing, this funding will be used for hiring additional support staff and scaling sales and marketing efforts to meet growing demand for the Shoutlet platform.

“Recent studies have shown that about 85% of companies are planning to increase spending on social media efforts in 2010, and our recent growth is an indicator of that,” said Jason Weaver, Sway, Inc. CEO. “We’re excited about this trend. Coupled with Shoutlet’s impressive set of features, this funding allows us to forge ahead to accomplish our goals and help even more brands effectively manage social media.”

Shoutlet is an all-encompassing platform that offers the robust feature set of online video distribution, text messaging, RSS feed and podcast creation, customized widget development, branded social sharing, Facebook and Twitter management and more. Its email marketing feature, supported by a recently announced strategic partnership with leading permission-based email provider BlueHornet, a Digital River, Inc. (NASDAQ:DRIV) company, also provides marketing and communications departments a solution for managing and tracking online sales and marketing initiatives.

About Sway, Inc.

Sway, Inc. is a Middleton, Wisconsin-based social media company which licenses its social media marketing platform, Shoutlet. Founded in 2004, Sway, Inc. works with leading B2C and B2B companies to integrate Shoutlet into their overarching social media outreach efforts. Full details about Shoutlet’s capabilities are available at http://www.shoutlet.com.

About Leo Capital
Leo Capital Holdings, LLC is a privately funded venture investor based in Northbrook, IL, making investments in early-stage, consumer-oriented companies. The firm works with companies that target large markets and makes investments across the United States. More information is available at http://www.leocapholdings.com.

About Origin Ventures
Origin Ventures is a venture capital firm based in Northbrook, IL, investing in early-stage companies. The firm invests capital and leverages its principals’ entrepreneurial, marketing and management expertise to help facilitate the growth of early-stage companies. More information is available at http://www.originventures.com.

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