Angie’s List collects $35M to expand services
1995 might as well be the dawn of civilization in terms of the Internet as we know it today. Yet that is how long Angie’s List, a source for local service ratings, has been around. Today, the company announces a new round of funding to keep its site going strong well into the future.
The $35 million investment comes from Battery Ventures, which will also take a minority stake in the company with the deal.
Angie’s List has over 600,000 members across 124 cities in the United States. This new investment will be used to expand into new markets in the U.S. as well as into new rating/review categories — such as the recently launched medical reviews.
Another priority will be expanding into select international markets. There is competition overseas, but by utilizing its 10-plus years of experience in the business, Angie’s List is confident it will work very effectively in other countries as well, Battery Ventures’ general partner Roger Lee tells us.
$35 million is a lot of money but the company believes its model is built to scale larger both in this country and aboard. Access to providers, quality and reliability are all important factors which Angie’s List currently has working in its favor.
One competitor in this country is Bestcontractors.com, which also allows users to find trust-worthy professionals by way of customer reviews, but that services currently operates in far fewer markets. Yelp, also offers customer reviews, but is broadly focused making it more difficult to find pertinent service recommendations (our coverage).
A newer entry in the arena is GenieTown, which has a special focus on the Bay Area (our coverage).
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About the Author, MG Siegler
MG Siegler writes about technology trends and new media for VentureBeat, with a focus on mobile topics, social elements and key news stories. Before that, MG wrote about technology on his blog, ParisLemon. Originally from Ohio, MG attended the University of Michigan where he studied film. He's previously lived in Los Angeles where he worked in Hollywood and in San Diego where he did web development. He now lives in San Francisco.
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MG Siegler