Vurve Raises Another $4.5 Million To Give Businesses ?Advertising On Autopilot?

It's no secret that a well-managed online marketing campaign can be a powerful weapon for small businesses eager to get in front of new customers ?�there's a reason Google's AdWords pulls in billions each year. But while many online platforms offer self-service tools that businesses can use to manage their own campaigns, the legwork involved with running these (especially on multiple platforms simultaneously) can be daunting. That's where Vurve comes in. The startup, which just raised $4.5 million in a Series A funding round, promises businesses "Advertising on autopilot" ?�it automates many of the most time-intensive aspects of running marketing online. The funding round was led by Spark Capital, with participation from Dave McClure's 500 Startups and True Ventures. Vurve's signup workflow is pretty simple, relatively speaking (the startup says that it generally takes less than five minutes to complete). To help streamline things the company has been working on partnering with ecommerce platforms like Shopify ?�which has integrated Vurve directly into its administrator dashboard ?�and Yahoo's storefronts.

Shanna Moakler Portia de Rossi Jolene Blalock Nichole Robinson Monet Mazur