Additional Capital from Dream Incubator, Salesforce Ventures and Silicon Valley Bank Accelerates Expansion of Wrap’s Mobile Engagement Platform
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, April 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — Wrap Media, LLC, a groundbreaking mobile-first storytelling and commerce platform has expanded its leadership team and received additional funding to fuel its growth as the next generation of the mobile web, transforming how enterprises, brands and publishers engage with their customers on mobile. Wrap has strengthened its world class executive team with the appointments of Kristine Shine, former President of the San Francisco Chronicle, Anne Driscoll, former Dwolla executive and James Donelan, former Engineering VP at Mulesoft.
Wrap is also announcing an additional $9 million of investment from Dream Incubator, Salesforce Ventures and Silicon Valley Bank, bringing the company’s total funding to date to $27.7 million. Since launch, Wrap has developed a host of powerful mobile engagement tools leveraged by customers including Communicorp One, Digicel Group, Gannett, Lover.ly and Trend Media.
“Mobile has transformed the way in which all business is communicated and transacted. We are funding the company and building the team that can fully meet the significant demand and market opportunity,” said Eric Greenberg, Founder and CEO of Wrap. “Wrap creates a native app-like user experience in micro-moments through the mobile web. Unprecedented engagement is achieved in the attention span of a message. Our clients have embraced Wrap because it creates an entire new set of business possibilities that were heretofore impossible without huge investments in programming and being within the walled gardens of large monolithic mobile ecosystems.”
As Chief Growth Officer, Kristine will drive business development and customer acquisition initiatives while leading Wrap’s successful expansion into new markets. Previously President of the San Francisco Chronicle and SFGate, Kristine transformed the print newspaper to a next-generation digital content publisher. Prior to that, she was Chief Revenue Officer at POPSUGAR.
“Because mobile consumption is the starting point for almost all customer engagement, there are countless opportunities for Wrap to successfully impact the way customers interact on mobile devices,” said Kristine. “Wrap’s revolutionary platform powers the mobile experience for publishers, e-commerce companies, digital businesses, software platforms and more, creating measurable ROI that was previously not possible.”
With a strong track record of leading strategy and brand positioning for Dwolla, Ning and Google, Anne joins Wrap as Chief Marketing Officer. In this role, Anne will manage all aspects of Wrap’s marketing efforts, as well as the development of its go-to-market strategy for new product offerings.
“With 3 billion smartphones in the world, mobile has become the place to connect and engage,” added Anne. “The world is always on and always connected, yet it is difficult and costly to build engaging experiences. As a platform built on the browser, Wraps can be distributed anywhere, and they can be created without a developer. I believe this is a massive opportunity, and it’s even more exciting because we are rethinking mobile engagement altogether.”
James joins Wrap as SVP of Engineering & Operations from leading data integration company, Mulesoft, where he helped the company surpass $100 million in revenue. His background in successfully leading engineering teams and his extensive experience in enterprise-grade scale and operations will ensure that Wrap delivers on its promise of democratizing the mobile web.
“Wrap offers the mobile experience that everyone deserves with no limitations or exclusions based on platform or service,” concluded James. “Wraps exist anywhere the user is, and its technology will completely reinvent how users interact with mobile.”
About Wrap
Founded in 2014 by entrepreneur Eric Greenberg, Wrap is a mobile-first storytelling and commerce platform that delivers app-like user experiences in bite-sized pieces through the mobile web. The ‘Narrative Web’ is the native app alternative, enabling unprecedented engagement, activation and conversion for brands, publishers, and digital businesses. Through its unique authoring tools and SaaS platform, Wrap creates opportunities for companies to create new business models and deeper relationships that cultivate loyalty and lead to increased revenue and profitability. For more information, visit www.wrap.co.
About Dream Incubator Inc.
Dream Incubator Inc. (TYO: 4310), “the Business Producing Company,” is a strategic consulting and business development firm primarily for corporate clients and governmental institutions. Dream Incubator provides both capital and professional services to next-generation companies to support their growth and expansion, while also operating their own businesses.
URL: http://www.dreamincubator.co.jp/entop
About Salesforce Ventures
Salesforce Ventures—Salesforce’s corporate investment group—invests in the next generation of enterprise technology to help companies connect with their customers in entirely new ways. Portfolio companies receive funding as well as access to the world’s largest cloud ecosystem and the guidance of Salesforce’s innovators and executives. With Salesforce Ventures, portfolio companies can also leverage the expertise of the Salesforce Foundation to incorporate its 1-1-1 model of integrated philanthropy to make giving back part of their business model. Salesforce has invested in more than 150 enterprise cloud startups since 2009. For more information, please visit www.salesforce.com/ventures.
About Silicon Valley Bank
For more than 30 years, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) has helped innovative companies and their investors move bold ideas forward. SVB provides targeted financial services and expertise through its offices in innovation centers around the world. With commercial, international and private banking services, SVB helps address the unique needs of innovators. Forbes named SVB one of America’s best banks (2015) and one of America’s best-managed companies (2014). Learn more at svb.com. Silicon Valley Bank is the California bank subsidiary and commercial banking operation of SVB Financial Group (Nasdaq: SIVB), and a member of the FDIC. Silicon Valley Bank and SVB Financial Group are members of the Federal Reserve System.
