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| Type | Private start-up |
|---|---|
| Founded | May, 2006 |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California, USA |
| Key people | Auren Hoffman, Manish Shah |
| Industry | Database marketing |
| Revenue | Undisclosed |
| Employees | 21 (as of August 15, 2009)[1] |
| Website | www.rapleaf.com blog.rapleaf.com |
Rapleaf is a Web 2.0 start-up company based in San Francisco, California founded by Auren Hoffman and Manish Shah. Today, Rapleaf's database of consumer information helps businesses segment customers, understand consumer penetration across social media[2], and investigate fraud[3].
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Investors
Rapleaf was initially self-funded by Hoffman and Shah[4]. Peter Thiel of The Founders Fund led a seed round of $1.0 million[5]. Other angel investors[6] in the round include Eric Di Benedetto, Aydin Senkut, Jeff Clavier, and Ron Conway, all with a background of venture capital-backed technology companies.[5]
History, products and services
Hoffman and Shah met at UC Berkeley's Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology[7] in spring of 2004. The two worked on a project prior to Rapleaf from February 2005 to November 2005. They formed Rapleaf in April, 2006 though work began in November 2005.
The company's first product, Rapleaf, is a meta-reputation system that allows users to create reviews and ratings of consumer transactions, which they then contribute to multiple e commerce websites. On May 15, 2006 eBay removed a number of auction listings where the seller had included links to Rapleaf, claiming they were in violation of its terms of use. Business commentators have had mixed opinions about this move.[8].
On January 26, 2007, Rapleaf released "Upscoop," a service that allows users to search for and manage their contacts by email address across multiple social networking sites.[9]. In late August 2007, Upscoop began e-mailing entire contact lists that are provided by their users when they login.
On July 10, 2008, Rapleaf changed its interface so that it no longer allows anonymous or registered users to search by email addresses. Instead, the service only allows a registered user to view their own reputation and the websites (social and business networking) to which their own email address is registered. There was an immediate negative backlash by companies and individuals who had been using Rapleaf to both manage reputations and investigate the authenticity of people.
Today, Rapleaf is primarily a B2B firm that helps companies analyze consumer lists to plan online marketing campaigns[10], find influential customers for customer relationship management[11], and manage fraud[12].
References
- ^ LinkedIn Company Profile (August 14, 2009). "Rapleaf Company Profile". LinkedIn. http://www.linkedin.com/companies/rapleaf. Retrieved 2009-08-14.
- ^ Shobowale, Sheethal (August 26, 2009). "Get your Organization’s Social Media Profile from Rapleaf". Leap Work. http://lethalsheethal.wordpress.com/2009/08/26/get-your-organizations-social-media-profile-from-raplea/. Retrieved 2009-09-01.
- ^ "Accertify and Rapleaf Partner to Deliver Enhanced Online Fraud Protection". PRNewswire. August 25, 2009. http://news.prnewswire.com/ViewContent.aspx?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/08-25-2009/0005082387&EDATE=. Retrieved 2009-08-31.
- ^ Marshall, Matt (April 24, 2006). "Networker Hoffman launches Rapleaf -- to track your reputation beyond eBay". The Mercury News. http://www.siliconbeat.com/cgi-bin/mt331/mt-tb.cgi/1316. Retrieved 2007-01-26.
- ^ a b Marshall, Matt (June 11, 2006). "Rapleaf, the e-commerce reputation manager, raises ~$1M to take on eBay". The Mercury News. http://www.siliconbeat.com/entries/2006/06/11/rapleaf_the_ecommerce_reputation_manager_raises_1m_to_take_on_ebay.html. Retrieved 2007-01-26.
- ^ Stefanie Olsen (2007-08-31). "At Rapleaf, your personals are public". CNet. http://news.cnet.com/At-Rapleaf,-your-personals-are-public---page-2/2100-1038_3-6205716-2.html.
- ^ .CET (June 9, 2006). "RapLeaf Funding". Berkeley Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology News. http://media.coe.berkeley.edu/CET/index.php?title=News:2006-06-09:RapLeaf_Funding. Retrieved 2007-01-26.
- ^ Arrington, Michael (May 17, 2006). "eBay Bans Rapleaf Links". Techcrunch. http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/05/17/ebay-bans-rapleaf-links/. Retrieved 2007-01-26.
- ^ Gonzales, Nick (January 26, 2007). "Stalk Your Contact List with UpScoop". Techcrunch. http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/01/26/stalk-your-contact-list-with-upscoop/. Retrieved 2007-01-26.
- ^ Baker, Stephen (May 21, 2009). "Learning, and Profiting, from Online Friendships". BusinessWeek. http://www.businessweek.com/print/magazine/content/09_22/b4133032573293.htm. Retrieved 2009-08-01.
- ^ Krempasky, Michael (August 7, 2009). "For Effective Advocacy, Select "E" for "All of the Above"". FastCompany. http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/michael-krempasky/digital-public-affairs/effective-advocacy-select-e-all-above. Retrieved 2009-09-07.
- ^ "Why retailers can probably trust consumers with lots of Facebook friends". Internet Retailer. August 25, 2009. http://www.internetretailer.com/dailyNews.asp?id=31590. Retrieved 2009-09-07.
External links
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