CitySquares Onlinebrought in a first round of funding from individuals Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, and Jonathan Kraft, whose Kraft Group owns the New England Patriots.
The Boston-based company says that it specializes in "hyper local" online searches, providing information on nearby businesses, including full contact information, maps and other users' reviews. The site, which had more than 1 million unique users in September, is currently restricted to New England and New York, but plans to roll out nationally in the spring of 2009 to encompass 16 million businesses. Right now, it only has 1.5 million.
Still, it might have a tough time competing with sites like more established CitySearch (15.1 million unique users in August) and trendy Yelp (which had 1.5 unique users last year at this time). It's still unclear what sets CitySquares apart. It's goal to provide info on areas in between neighborhoods may not be enough.