Funding Friday: It Is Possible to Raise Money Everywhere Else

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The common theme in the startup world is that it’s very hard to raise money outside of Silicon Valley. But, let’s be real here. It’s really hard to raise money inside the Valley, too. No one said entrepreneurship was easy, and sometimes the best things are difficult to accomplish.

Sometimes, though, it’s nice to see other companies doing it. Whether it’s a seed round or an IPO filing, watching other companies succeed can be a good reminder than we can, too.

With that in mind, here are 5 companies from everywhere else that raised money recently*:

  1. GROUNDFLOOR, based in North Carolina, raised $125,000 in a seed round. Founders Brian Dally and Nick Bhargava are building a new way to invest, starting with real estate. “The banks aren’t invited, but you are,” it says on the website. The two men have plenty of experience between them, and if you’re interested in investments, you should check them out.
  2. Traxo announced a $4.2 million Series A on the company blog last week. Part social network, part travel itinerary, the Dallas-based company is looking to make the travel process easier.
  3. KidsLink calls itself a “family management tool.” Parents can aggregate and organize essential documents and receive alerts about milestones and seasonal events. The team at KidsLink sees their product as a great solution for the lack of technology in most medical and educational institutions. The Atlanta-based company announced $1 million in funding.
  4. Nextly offers a new browsing solution for online content. You can follow streams and save pages to your collection. The Boston-based startup is a well-designed competitor to StumbleUpon. The $600k in another seed round, and are already backed by prominent angel investors like Dharmesh Shah of Hubspot.
  5. NoWait is an iPad app that allows restaurants to text customers when their table is ready. With offices in Pittsburgh, New York, and (soon) Austin, they are definitely everywhere else. The company raised a $1.9 million Series A.

So, take heart, founders everywhere else. With a great solution and a great team, it is possible to raise money outside of Silicon Valley. However, as these founders probably know, raising money just means the work can get started.

*All funding news and most numbers came from the Mattermark newsletter.

This Week In Funding 25 March 2012


 

This Week In Funding we have seen over $78 million dollars in investments go to Startups. They have raised it in all different ways, some going after big name Hollywood types like Ashton Kutcher. Or the more traditional rout with rounds Andreessen Horowitz leading the way. Everything from a Series A round to an E round happened. Bellow are a list of some of those that brought in investments this week.

 

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