Community Elf, implementers of content marketing strategies and creators of active content discovery tool UpContent, announced today that it raised $2 million to accelerate growth. The Series A round was led by Topanga Partners, a private equity fund based in Pittsburgh. The capital infusion will be leveraged to accelerate UpContent’s product roadmap and drive awareness of the newly launched UpContent Gallery product offering.
Founded in 2010, Community Elf is an outsourced content marketing solution for Agencies and Brand Marketers in mid-market and enterprise B2B and B2C companies across 35 industries including the healthcare, professional services, technology, manufacturing, retail, and non-profit sectors. UpContent, launched in 2015, is the company’s SaaS platform that scales third party digital content curation on native websites and social media platforms. UpContent discovers news and blog articles within Hootsuite, Buffer, and Klipfolio. UpContent provides more than 40,000 article suggestions per day across 1,000 cities around the globe.
Content curation is a daily task for more than 80% of brand marketers, who spend nearly one month of time per year on these activities. UpContent automates the content discovery process, enabling marketers to spend more time on contextualizing and showcasing their brand as a thought leader. With the UpContent Gallery, marketers can place content, develop custom calls-to-action, and use retargeting pixels to capture traffic previously lost when sent to third party news and blog sites. Also, marketers can moderate and contextualize articles showcased in the Gallery via my.upcontent.com or within Hootsuite.
“The timing of Topanga’s investment couldn’t be better,” said Scott Rogerson, CEO of Community Elf. “We are well positioned in the content marketing industry to take advantage of the opportunity that lies ahead. The idea for the UpContent Gallery was sparked by listening to our customers, and we are thrilled about launching globally. We are excited to work with the Topanga team to achieve our vision.”
“Community Elf and UpContent provide a compelling solution within the $200B content marketing industry,” says Laurie Barkman, Managing Partner at Topanga Partners. “There is constant demand for digital content in nearly every business. UpContent directly addresses the everyday challenge of sourcing and curating relevant content, making it a must-have solution for marketing teams and agencies with global reach.”
About Topanga Partners
Topanga Partners is an independent private equity firm based in Pittsburgh that invests in early and mid-stage technology companies focused on product technology, software-as-a-service (SaaS), and digital platforms. Topanga Partners provides operational and strategic services that mitigate risk to investors, drive capital efficiency, and build enterprise value.
About Community Elf
Community Elf executes the day-to-day efforts that lead prospects through each stage of the buyer’s journey. The company’s UpContent platform is a content discovery tool that helps marketers take immediate action on the articles that matter–driving new, more meaningful conversations. Community Elf has over 20 agency partners and serves over 85 customers across 35 industries – with UpContent reaching over 1,000 cities around the world. Learn more at upcontent.com.
