ItemMaster, a Chicago-based technology company that helps brands present content about their products online and in physical stores, just raised a $7.5 million Series A round of funding. New Jersey-based VC firm Edison Partners led the round, with participation from Chicago Ventures.
“We’ve got some great partners in Chicago Ventures,” said CEO and President Michael Murray. “With the addition of the Edison team, we feel like we’re in really good shape for the business we are building.”
ItemMaster has a current headcount of 50. Murray expects that to double by the end of 2017, with hires in technology, customer success, product and innovation.
ItemMaster is the maker of a cloud-based platform called Brand Activation, which helps manufacturers maintain an up-to-date portfolio of approved brand content for use by both online retailers and brick-and-mortar stores. The platform currently hosts assets from more than 5,000 brands, including nearly all of the country’s 100 biggest consumer packaged goods brands. E-commerce sites that use ItemMaster include Peapod, InstaCart and Walmart.
Murray said ItemMaster was founded in 2009 to address the lack of product content optimized for digital grocery shelves. The company has been incubated at the Peapod headquarters in Skokie, but is a standalone company as of this year.
The company expects to move to new downtown headquarters by February 2017.
Murray said he is excited to work with Edison Partners, who have a lot of experience in the marketing technology space ItemMaster is a part of.
“Buying food and groceries online is a rapidly accelerating trend, and we are impressed by ItemMaster’s solution for helping retailers and brands drive online sales of their products,” said Edison Partners Principal David Nevas in a statement. “Rich, accurate product data and images are the key to successfully connecting with consumers and driving conversion, and ItemMaster ensures the most complete, highest quality content and data in the market."
ItemMaster’s expansion plans include branching into new product categories like beauty products and over-the-counter pharmaceuticals, as well as to build partnerships with new retailers.
ItemMaster was founded in 2009, and Murray took the helm in 2015. Nevas has joined the company's board of directors.
Image via Shutterstock.
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