Bank Shuts Down Local Online Advertising Company WebVisible For Not Paying Debts

Wednesday, December 28th, 2011

Leena Rao currently works as a writer for TechCrunch. She recently finished graduate school at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, where she studied business journalism and videography. From 2004 to 2007, she helped lead Congresswoman Carloyn Maloney’s community outreach and relations efforts in New York City. She graduated from Columbia University in 2003, where she was... → Learn More

WebVisible
WebVisible

Local interactive advertising firm WebVisible has shut its doors. According to a note sent from the company’s CEO to employees, WebVisible ran out of cash, and Silicon Valley Bank is shutting the company down.

WebVisible’s software allowed advertisers to manage local online campaigns on Google, Yahoo, Bing and others. The company’s services were offered directly affiliate partners to local businesses, franchisors, and national advertisers Previous WebVisible partners include AT&T, British Telecom, Yellow Pages Group of Canada, EarthLink, and The McClatchy Company, among others.

WebVisible, which was founded in 2001, has raised over $17 million from Sutter Hill Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, and Adams Street partners.

Here’s part of the note sent to employees:

It is with deep sadness and regret that I must inform you that today, December 27, 2011 is the last day of operation for WebVisible. I know this is a shock and has come abruptly. Even with all our efforts to recover throughout this past year, we found ourselves in a position in which the debt load of the company was simply too much to overcome. Our bank foreclosed on its loan which means they are taking over the company’s assets and collecting all remaining payments. As a result they have forced the company to shut down….This happened quite suddenly, and the timing could not be more unfortunate…As of today there are no employees left at WebVisible, including myself and therefore there is no one to handle anything for you.. This is like a bad movie, I can’t imagine a worse scenario for shutting a company down and laying everyone off, the only concession I was able to get from the bank was to wait until after Christmas. As the CEO I apologize that I have not been able to do more to avoid this event and this timing.

We are still trying to get confirmation from the company, and will update when we hear back.


Company: WebVisible
Website: webvisible.com
Launch Date: 2001
Funding: $37M

Based in Southern California, WebVisible is a Software as a Service (SaaS) company and leading name in local online advertising, known for being a true expert in bringing the Internet as an advertising and customer acquisition medium to small businesses around the world. Through direct sales and global partners in the Yellow Pages, newspaper, and online marketing industries, we offer our innovative online advertising products to small business customers. Our advertising products are powered by our award winning Geneva software platform...

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