Thursday, November 17, 2011

CustomMade IDs backers in $2.1M round as Google, First Round

By Rodney H. Brown

Online custom crafts marketplace company CustomMade Ventures Corp. announced the $2.1 million financing that it filed federal documents about in late September, identifying the lead investors as Google Ventures and First Round Capital.

CustomMade Ventures, which operates the website CustomMade.com, saw participation in the Series A round from Founder Collective, Launch Capital, NextView Ventures, and Andrew McCollum, former co-founder of Facebook, and David Tisch of TechStars New York City, in addition to other investors, according to a release from the company.

At the same time, the company launched a new version of its website that allows shoppers to post a planned project for, say, a piece of furniture, get proposals from craftsmen, and ultimately pay for the job through the CustomMade website. Already the site is seeing an average price of $1,500 per job request posted, the release stated.

When the company filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Sept. 27, it listed that it had raised $2 million of the planned $2.1 million. In the filing the company listed 10 backers, but did not name them.

Starting out specifically as an online marketplace for custom woodworkers, CustomMade has been around since 1996. Founders Seth Rosen and Michael Salguero bought the company in 2009 and revamped its user interface. As of March 2010, the pair had taken in about $500,000 in friends and family investment and were looking for up to $1 million more, with interest in both venture capital and angel funding.

In February, CustomMade was reporting explosive revenue growth, taking in $350,000 in 2010 with plans for $2 million in 2011 revenue.

Salguero was named one of the 15 Boston Business Journal Rising Stars in the first joint Mass High Tech-Boston Business Journal Innovation All-Stars awards.