Ireland’s only Facebook preferred developer consultant Betapond has raised €1.15m in venture capital funding it will use to double its staff to 25, expand to new markets and broaden its platform.
The funding follows a one-year R&D agreement signed last September with the Telecommunications, Software and Systems Group for a social media retail marketing product, which had funding from Enterprise Ireland.
Betapond was founded in 2009 with offices in Waterford, Dublin, London and California. It develops social media solutions primarily for Facebook which are used in the retail, entertainment and tourism sectors for companies such as Paddy Power, Tourism Ireland and Visit Britain.
The company is one of 90 Facebook preferred developer consultants globally, meaning Facebook believes it has “demonstrated the ability to understand the social mechanics and technical possibilities of Facebook apps” and has experience building numerous Facebook integrations. It is currently the only Facebook preferred developer consultant in Ireland.
The funding has been provided by the Bank of Ireland Start-up and Emerging Sectors Equity Fund and managed by Delta Partners, Irrus Investments and Enterprise Ireland.
Declan Kennedy, Betapond’s CEO, believes that the fusion of smartphones, social media and location information has given retailers effective new marketing mechanics to engage with customers in store.
“The retail industry is fine. It’s just the physical stores’ model that isn’t working,” said Kennedy.
“We help our clients to effectively capture eyeballs and grow relationships with customers in a seamless way that enhances the in-store shopping experience using social media.
“This fundraising will allow us to accelerate into new markets and move to the next level with customers and channel partners,” he said.
