Well, it officially came out this morning on Techcrunch that FundingUniverse has acquired the social media analytics company TwitJump. As part of the deal, Alex Lawrence, a local serial entrepreneur, will be joining the FundingUniverse team as a board member and Chief Evangelist.
We’re super excited about this announcement as this technology is one small piece to our ever-growing strategy to help small business owners. Over the 2 years, we have really expanded our vision from the original idea to help entrepreneurs connect to angel investors. That is still at the very core of what we do, it’s just that now we can do so much more. We’ve taken a broader focus to small business funding and have added over 400 banks across the US to our platform. We can now help business owners navigate their way to obtain SBA loans, unsecured lines of credit, business credit cards, equipment loans, alternative loans, and equity investments. This alone has made a huge impact on our ability to increase the number of companies getting funded.
We’ve also expanded our product line as to help business owners grow their business. For example, it many cases, business owners need to lay a stronger foundation before approaching a bank to get a business loan. This may include getting a website, writing a more solid business plan, and/or improving their marketing & sales strategy. We can now identify the needs of the business owner and then figure out efficient ways to offer them what they need. By so doing, this improves the business owner’s chance to succeed. A by-product of that is an increased chance of getting approved for a business loan.
That’s where TwitJump comes into play. We are excited about the opportunity to really help up and coming companies increase their social media strategies to increase their customer base. Unlike anything theretofore, social media has evened the played field to allow small businesses to play on the same level as large companies. If used correctly, we feel strongly that small businesses can use social media strategies to attract new customers and increase sales. We have already seen many case studies from clients (chiropractors, restaurants, tech companies, etc.) that are proving out our assumptions.
You’ve also heard that we are expanding across the US. We have already hired reps in Arizona and Colorado, with the hopes to get 3 more reps hired within the next couple of months. It’s an exciting time right now at FundingUniverse and I’m enjoying the ride!
