PROVIDENCE – Media software developer Creative Circle Advertising Solutions Inc. today announced the closing of its second round of financing.
The two rounds totaled about $1 million, CCAS president Sue Tremblay said in a telephone interview. “This round was a little smaller than the first,” she said.
CCAS said the second-round participants included Cherrystone Angel Group (www.cherrystone angelgroup.com), founded in 2004, “Rhode Island’s first organized angel investment group,” according to its Web site, a backer of AIE, Ion Signature Technology Inc. and Narragansett Brewing Co.; the quasi-public Slater Technology Fund (www.slaterfund.com), established in 1997 by then-Gov. Lincoln Almond and the R.I. General Assembly, which has invested in companies including Afferent Corp., Cyberkinetics Inc., Epivax Inc., FarSounder Inc., Tazz Networks and Traction Software; and Walnut Venture Associates (www.walnutventures.com), a Boston-based venture capital fund founded in 1996, which has backed companies including Softrax and Yokel.
“CCAS is a very promising company that has achieved significant business milestones in a short period of time,” said Thorne Sparkman, managing director of the Slater Technology Fund. “With the team's domain expertise, innovative technology and rapidly growing customer base, CCAS is well positioned to become the market leader in their space.”
The company said it will use the money to enhance sales and marketing of its flagship “adQ: Intelligent Classifieds” software and accelerate its expansion into new markets.
A Web-based system that helps members of the public to compose and post their own classified ads, adQ was launched last year at NBC-10 in Rhode Island. It is now used by 24 broadcasters nationwide that reach 30 percent of U.S. households, and by newspapers in the United States and the Asia-Pacific region. Local customers, besides Channel 10, include The Valley Breeze, Westerly Sun and Providence Business News.
CCAS also is the developer of “communityQ” community journalism software that is in use at several papers including the Chicago Tribune.
Creative Circle Advertising Solutions was founded in 2004 by Bill Ostendorf of Creative Circle Media Consulting and Jay Higgins of Sprintout Internet Services.
“We’ve had an incredible year,” said Ostendorf, the company’s CEO. “Our Series A funding allowed us to break into the broadcast industry, expand our client base and develop new products. With this new round of funding, we will be able to expand even further into the broadcast market.”
Additional information is available at www.adqic.com.
