Branding Brand Raises $7.5 Million Series A Led by Insight Venture Partners

PITTSBURGH, Oct. 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Branding Brand, a mobile commerce platform used by major retailers, including American Eagle Outfitters, Costco, Ralph Lauren, and Sephora, today announced that it has secured $7.5 million in Series A funding led by Insight Venture Partners, with CrunchFund and Eastern Advisors also participating. Branding Brand will use the investment to scale customer acquisition, technology development, and operations.

The round marks Branding Brand's first outside investment. Founded in 2008 by three friends from Carnegie Mellon University, the company launched a mobile platform at the end of 2009 to seamlessly extend brands into optimized experiences for smartphones, tablets, and in-store. It is now the largest m-commerce provider to the Internet Retailer Top 500 and has grown from 10 to over 100 employees in the last two years.

"In 2013, many of our clients will see more internet traffic coming from mobile devices than desktop computers," said Chris Mason, co-founder and CEO of Branding Brand. "There is unprecedented opportunity in front of us, and we're ready to take things to the next level."

"We are particularly excited by Branding Brand's ability to deliver innovative cross-channel solutions to their retail partners," said Ryan Hinkle, Principal at Insight Venture Partners. "We were drawn to their thought leadership in enabling mobile solutions that enhance both brick-and-mortar and online functionality."

ABOUT BRANDING BRAND
Branding Brand powers mobile commerce sites and apps for the world's leading brands, including American Eagle Outfitters, Anthropologie, The Children's Place, Costco, Crate & Barrel, Dick's Sporting Goods, Drugstore.com, Eastern Mountain Sports, GNC, Ralph Lauren, Sephora, Steve Madden, Timberland, Tumi, and West Marine. Based in Pittsburgh, PA, it is the largest and fastest-growing mobile commerce platform provider in the industry. It is also a Google Commerce Search Partner, Google Wallet Partner, and PayPal Channel Partner. For more information, visit http://www.brandingbrand.com.

ABOUT INSIGHT VENTURE PARTNERS
Insight Venture Partners is a leading private equity and venture capital firm focused on the global software, Internet and data-services industries. Founded in 1995, Insight has raised more than $5 billion and made more than 150 investments. Insight has a successful two-team structure: its investment team evaluates thousands of companies globally each year; its Insight Onsite team of consultants works with growth-stage management to provide resources and advice to allow them to achieve long-term success. For more information, visit http://www.insightpartners.com.

SOURCE Branding Brand