SOLOMO Technology, Inc., is releasing its patent-pending SOLOMO Exchange™ web services platform globally following its latest financing round.  The company has completed a Series A first close worth $1.7M.  The financing will be used to accelerate its product development and increase its sales and marketing activities.  The round was co-led by Venture Management, LLC and Don Layden, and included participation by Wisconsin Investment Partners.  The equity investment leveraged additional funding from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation.

The company’s unique SOLOMO Exchange™ platform is the only solution on the market today that enables retailers to conduct personalized and localized omni-channel marketing while strengthening customer trust.  The platform connects to retailers’ branded mobile applications to support the seamless, trusted exchange of individual customer data in return for value.  Retailers can offer products, services, special offers, or leverage their existing loyalty program to trade virtual currency, in exchange for customer data.  Customers own the data they store on the platform and can update or revoke it, putting them in control of their personal information. 

SOLOMO Geo™, one of the SOLOMO Exchange™ services, provides retailers with WiFi-based anonymous indoor location analytics and an array of opt-in localized customer engagement capabilities.  This allows retailers to engage customers in their stores and better understand customer behavior.  Critical to customer trust, SOLOMO treats consumer location information as securely and privately as any other personal information.  SOLOMO is currently working with companies across many categories, including specialty retail, convenience, malls and airlines.

The company is led by CEO Liz Eversoll, a veteran of CDW and other leading IT companies.  Armed with her in-depth IT knowledge and vision for permissioned data exchange, she launched SOLOMO in 2011.  The management team is rounded out with members who have deep executive experience from Microsoft, CDW, Lands’ End and Weather Central. 

“Trust is the foundation of the relationship between retailers and their customers.  Due to the general erosion of consumer trust, the World Economic Forum has noted¹ that nearly $1 trillion is at stake in the digital retail economy by 2016,” says Liz Eversoll, CEO.  “Trusted retailers will win that business.”

This financing round comes on the heels of a number of accolades announced by SOLOMO in recent weeks, including its announcement of its designation by Gartner Research as a 2013 Cool Vendor in Retail², Microsoft BizSpark’s recognition of SOLOMO as a “Featured Startup”, and recognition for SOLOMO’s “rock star team” in a recent NBC Chicago blog post. 

Contact:   marketing@slmtechnology.com.

About Venture Management LLC

Venture Management LLC (http://www.vmllc.com) is a private investment office based in Madison, Wisconsin.  VMLLC currently has 20 active investments including positions in ecommerce & internet services, medical devices, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and clean & renewable energy technologies.  Over the past few years VMLLC has had several successful exits.

About Don Layden

Don Layden is Operating Partner at Baird Venture Partners and a Partner with Quarles & Brady.  He is also an active investor in, and director of, several technology enabled business service companies.  Layden held executive management roles with Metavante, Fiserv, NuEdge Systems and Marshall & Ilsley during his career. 

¹ World Economic Forum, May 2012, “Rethinking Personal Data: Strengthening Trust

²  Disclaimer: Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in our research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

SOLOMO Technology

SOLOMO Technology

SOLOMO Technology, Inc.is a venture-­backed company founded in 2011 by experienced digital executives in response to the major market trends of our time. Businesses and their customers are seeking personalized, localized offers and services. SOLOMO connects the two in a trusted, permissions-­‐based manner on its SOLOMO Exchange™ platform, the indispensable digital technology for trusted brands.

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