SAN FRANCISCO, July 22 /PRNewswire/ -- ResponseLogix, Inc. announced today the close of an $8 million Series A round of financing, led by GRP Partners and Shasta Ventures with support from A. H. Belo Corporation and the Belo Corp. ResponseLogix will use the money to continue to grow and scale its platform of tools and services for automotive dealers' Internet sales.
"ResponseLogix has created a valuable and exciting technology platform for managing automotive sales leads. ResponseLogix's solutions suite significantly increases the close rate of dealers using the web to sell," said Steven Dietz, partner at GRP Partners. "We're delighted to invest in ResponseLogix to accelerate the adoption of its ground-breaking technology in the automotive community."
ResponseLogix has seen significant momentum since it began operations in early 2007. Automotive dealers using the full ResponseLogix suite of solutions have seen increases in Internet sales of over 50% on average. When a consumer submits a request for information on a car, ResponseLogix delivers back a price quote from the dealer right away. It then continues communications throughout the buying cycle on the dealer's behalf and alerts the dealer when the consumer is ready to buy. This consumer-friendly communication approach has proven to grow dealer revenues, profits and customer satisfaction.
"Since ResponseLogix entered the marketplace in 2007, they have been a driving force in the growth of online sales for its automotive customers," said Jason Pressman, partner at Shasta Ventures. "We see tremendous promise in the solutions it offers to automobile dealerships. ResponseLogix has cracked the code in attaining significant Internet sales improvement by dealerships, and how these dealerships serve their quickly growing base of online customers."
ResponseLogix's core offerings are SmartQuote, SmartFollow, and SmartFacts, a suite of software solutions that assist dealers in reacting to, and managing, their Internet leads. SmartQuote provides a relevant, rapid quote back to all Internet leads within 10 minutes, 100% of the time. SmartFollow continues the conversation with the potential customers, and, if the lead goes cold, works to re-engage them with the dealer. SmartFacts provides key data to the dealers to enable them to better manage their processes and sales force.
"ResponseLogix technology provides our automotive dealer advertisers industry-leading solutions to more efficiently manage Internet-generated customer inquiries," said Dave Ellett, president and General Manager of Belo Interactive Media. "Auto dealer advertisers implementing ResponseLogix benefit by improving customer follow-up and tracking online leads, potentially resulting in a shortening of the sales cycle and higher sales volume."
"The investment in ResponseLogix gives Belo Corp. the opportunity to provide our automotive dealer advertisers tools to more successfully manage Internet-generated customer inquiries in our television markets," said Dunia A. Shive, Belo Corp.'s president and Chief Executive Officer.
The company has veteran top executives in its management team including former Knight Ridder Digital president Tom Mohr, and former Dealix vice presidents Steve Pace, Tim Weaver, and Jagdish Rajan. "In the past year we have built a great team and coupled it with a strong and scalable technology platform," said ResponseLogix CEO Tom Mohr. "This capital will help us move forward in key areas of our business and further accelerate our growth and leadership in the automotive Internet sales arena."
About ResponseLogix
Founded in early 2007, ResponseLogix takes auto dealers' Internet sales departments to the next level of productivity and profitability. ResponseLogix solves the three biggest challenges in the Internet sales process: the speed and quality of initial response to leads; the impact and consistency of ongoing follow up; and, the effectiveness of the live communications in-between. ResponseLogix is the only solution in the marketplace that solves all three of these issues while delivering personalized messages to the customer that are timely, consistent, and relevant.
ResponseLogix incubated its business on the premises of a Top-25 Internet dealership in Sunnyvale, California. To learn more about ResponseLogix, visit http://www.responselogix.com.
About GRP Partners
GRP Partners is a venture capital and growth equity firm focused on financing and helping to build services providers and related technology companies, retail and consumer services companies, financial, and business services providers. GRP Partners finances outstanding early-stage and late-stage companies that have developed solutions meeting pressing consumer and business needs. Over the course of nearly 20 years, the GRP Partners team has been involved with many companies that have become household names today, such as Costco, Starbucks, PETsMART, Office Depot, Ticketmaster, P.F. Chang's, [Overture Services (acquired by Yahoo!), Dick's Sporting Goods, Zany Brainy, lastminute.com] and many others. GRP Partners manages approximately $900 million. To learn more about GRP Partners, visit http://www.grpvc.com.
About Shasta Ventures
Shasta Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm investing in technology-enabled businesses serving consumers and enterprises. Located in Menlo Park, Calif., Shasta Ventures manages $460 million. Shasta was formed in 2004 by venture capital veterans and invests across consumer and business services, infrastructure and software. For more information on Shasta Ventures, please visit http://www.shastaventures.com.
About A. H. Belo Corporation
A. H. Belo Corporation headquartered in Dallas, Texas, is a distinguished news and information company that owns and operates four daily newspapers and 12 associated Web sites. A. H. Belo publishes The Dallas Morning News, Texas' leading newspaper and winner of eight Pulitzer Prizes since 1986; The Providence Journal, the oldest continuously-published daily newspaper in the U.S. and winner of four Pulitzer Prizes; The Press-Enterprise (Riverside, CA), serving southern California's Inland Empire region and winner of one Pulitzer Prize; and the Denton Record-Chronicle. The Company publishes various specialty publications targeting niche audiences, young adults and the fast-growing Hispanic market. A. H. Belo also owns direct mail and commercial printing businesses. Additional information is available at http://www.ahbelo.com.
About Belo Corp.
Belo Corp. is one of the nation's largest pure-play, publicly-traded television companies, with annual revenue of approximately $775 million. The Company owns and operates 20 television stations reaching more than 14 percent of U.S. television households, including ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CW and MyNetwork TV affiliates, and their associated Web sites, in 15 highly-attractive markets across the United States. Belo stations consistently deliver distinguished journalism for which they have received significant industry recognition including nine Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Silver Baton Awards; nine George Foster Peabody Awards; and 23 national Edward R. Murrow Awards -- all since 2000, and in each case more than any other commercial station group in the nation. Nearly all Belo stations rank first or second in their local market. Belo owns stations in seven of the top 25 markets in the nation, with six stations located in the fast-growing, top-14 markets of Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston, Seattle/Tacoma and Phoenix. Additionally, the Company has created regional cable news channels in Texas and the Northwest increasing its impact in those regions. Additional information is available at http://www.belo.com.
Contacts
ResponseLogix: Tom Mohr, President (408) 533-0222
GRP Partners: Steven Dietz, Partner (310) 785-5100
Shasta Ventures: Jason Pressman, Partner (650) 543-1700
A. H. Belo Corporation: Maribel Correa, director/Investor Relations, at
(214) 977-2702
Belo Corp.: Paul Fry, VP Investor Relations and Corporate Communications
(214) 977-6835