Marketfish Secures $4.5 Million in First VC-Round Financing, Expands Team

SEATTLE, WA--(Marketwire - Jun 8, 2011) - Marketfish, a comprehensive platform for list-based marketing campaigns, announced today that it raised $4.5 million in its first institutional round of funding, which was co-led by Rustic Canyon Partners and Javelin Ventures. The latest round of financing brings the total investment raised for Marketfish to approximately $7.5 million. To accommodate burgeoning demand for its services, Marketfish will use the new investment to grow its sales team, build out its offerings for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and bolster its training and services offerings.

With roughly 350 clients, including agencies and enterprises alike, Marketfish is growing at a rapid pace. The company's powerful lead generation platform has simplified and sped up the process of creating and managing permission-based email marketing campaigns. By automating tasks the used to be onerous and time-consuming, Marketfish has given marketers unprecedented insight and control of their list-based marketing campaigns.

Important New Team Members Will Guide Marketfish into Bigger Waters

Marketfish has expanded its team by hiring privacy and deliverability expert David Fowler on as its first Chief Privacy Officer. Jed Katz, managing director of Javelin Ventures, will be joining Marketfish's board of directors, and KBM Group CEO Gary Laben will be a new adviser. Between them, these industry veterans bring more than 60 years of online, email marketing, and hi-tech expertise to Marketfish.

"I'm excited that these successful business leaders have agreed to join our world-class team and board of advisors for Marketfish," said CEO Dave Scott. "This is a testament that Marketfish is on the right track with its innovative self-service lead generation platform."

Chief Privacy Officer David Fowler to Define and Oversee Marketfish's Privacy Policies

As part of its ongoing commitment to privacy, Marketfish has hired industry veteran David Fowler as its new Chief Privacy Officer. In this role, Fowler will define and oversee Marketfish's privacy policies and company strategies for maximizing email deliverability to the inbox. Fowler has more than 20 years of experience in senior management roles specializing in email privacy and deliverability for companies such as Lyris, Blue Hornet, and Alterian.

"We're excited to have David Fowler join our leadership team," said Marketfish CEO Dave Scott. "As one of the top experts in the world on privacy matters, he'll ensure the safest possible environment for our advertiser clients and publisher partners."

Katz, Laben Add Years of Know-How to the Firm

Jed Katz of Javelin Ventures will be joining Marketfish's board of directors, which consists of CEO Dave Scott, Neal Hansch of Rustic Canyon Partners, angel investor Jack Breese, and Razorfish Chairman Clark Kokich. Katz brings 20 years of experience with early stage technology ventures, as a venture capitalist, entrepreneur, and executive. He has been listed in the "Silicon Alley 100," which highlights New York's most influential digital businesspeople.

"We're excited to be working with the Marketfish team to take a disruptive look at a large, archaic industry," said Katz. "The company's self-service platform makes it much easier to build lead generation marketing campaigns. The need for this service is evidenced by the demand Marketfish has seen from its blue chip customer list."

Gary Laben, Marketfish's newest adviser, is the CEO of KBM Group, a global leader in knowledge-based marketing solutions. Laben has worked in the information marketing industry for 20 years. Prior to helming KBM Group, he served as Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at Experian. Named the 2009 Direct Marketer of the Year by the Taylor Institute for Direct Marketing, Laben is actively involved in the Direct Marketing Association, sitting on its board of directors and Ethics Policy Committee. Laben will join existing advisors Craig Swerdloff, Paul Chachko, Clark Kokich, and Keir Walton.

"I'm excited to work with Dave Scott and the talented people at Marketfish," said Laben. "It's clear that the Marketfish solution will revolutionize list marketing. It will be a compelling solution for marketing agencies everywhere."

About Marketfish
Marketfish is a permission-based list marketing service provider. Its self-service platform makes creating and managing targeted lead generation campaigns simple and transparent. With more than 250 demographic categories to choose from, Marketfish's cloud-based platform enables users to reach their perfect audience in seconds, then track performance using real-time data. With a pay-by-campaign model, users only pay for what they need. Founded in 2008, Seattle-based Marketfish is currently funded by Rustic Canyon Partners, Javelin Ventures, and Accelerator Ventures. For more information, please visit www.marketfish.com or call (206) 905-1090.