Local events management and calendar vendor Zvents is announcing today the closure of a Series A funding round totaling $7 million. The round was led by VantagePoint Venture Partners and included Red Rock and NetService Ventures.
Zvents combines a strong product with an API, a very strong team and an impressive customer list. They are establishing themselves as leaders in a particular niche of web services – they are essentially a B2B calendar and events widget provider. I think the funds involved have made a smart investment.
Zvents partners with other media companies to provide an Ajax rich events calendar to embed in their websites. In January Zvents will launch a beta of its new local advertising network, further monetizing the media partnerships it’s building. The company’s showcase customers include the San Jose Mercury News, the Miami Herald and the Denver Post. Zvents says it will soon roll out a free calendar product for venues, events promoters and organizations. The company currently offers a commercial API and highlights startup social networking site Maya’s Mom as a customer. Primary competitor Trumba only recently incorporated Ajax and has announced that it is ending support for its free and small publisher products. Trumba’s customers include the NYTimes auto section online.
Zvents is also announcing that David Carlick from VantagePoint Ventures is joining the company’s board of directors. Carlick was a co-founder of DoubleClick and an investor in Ask and MySpace/Intermix. Carlick will join Rich Melmon, co-founder of Electronic Arts, and Paul Martino, founding CTO of Tribe Networks, on the Zvents board. Gordon Rios, a former principal scientist at Yahoo! Search, has been hired as Zvents CTO.
The company will be rolling out service on Boston.com next month and in the top 50 metros in the United States and Canada over the next year. Our previous coverage of Zvents is here.
