Thursday, March 24, 2011

Connecticut Innovations helps to attract Zadspace to Norwalk

By James M. Connolly

Software as a service direct marketing company Zadspace has taken in a $3.2 million Series B round of venture capital led by Connecticut Innovations and DFJ Frontier, and said that it is relocating from El Segundo, Calif., to Norwalk, Conn.

The company said it was moving to Norwalk to be closer to the area’s hub of direct marketing.

Other investors in the round included new investors Cava Capital, LaunchCapital and David F. Zucker, along with returning investors Crosscut Ventures and The Gideon Hixon Fund. Connecticut Innovations’ Pauline Murphy joined the board.

In addition Zadspace, which enables retailers to deliver targeted advertising on four-by-six inch color shipping labels, said it has hired Jeff Giordano as interim CEO and as a board member. Giordano previously served as chairman of the Electronic Retailing Association, and has run several direct marketing companies. The company issued a press release about the funding and Giordano’s hiring that listed founder and former CEO Todd Outten as president.

Other recent investments from Connecticut Innovations include Intelligent Clearing Network Inc., a New Canaan-based company that develops software-as-a-service that works as a clearing network for digital and paper coupons which get delivered at the point of a sale, which landed $1 million earlier this month.  In November, Helix Therapeutics LLC in New Haven took in $2.5 million.