Company Secures Strategic Marketing Partnership with Vertrue to Enhance Loyalty and Cross-Sell Component of Live Chat Solution
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- inQ, online marketing company that utilizes live chat to put salespeople on the Web, today announced the closing of $2.5 million in funding from initial venture capital firms, Dolphin Equity Partners and Hudson Ventures as well as new investor, Vertrue (VTRU). In addition, inQ also announced a strategic marketing partnership with Vertrue, a leading provider of consumer membership and loyalty programs to help promote partnerQ, the company's post transaction cross-sell component to its chat marketing solution. Through the funding and partnership, inQ will strengthen its product offerings and deliver an increase in revenue and sales opportunities for its client websites.
"Within inQ, we saw a company with a first-class management team that is building a strong and diverse customer base with differentiated and market leading technology and marketing solutions," said Mark Brooks of Dolphin Equity. "It is clear that the market for live chat solutions is growing quickly and businesses are looking to improve their online interaction with customers. inQ's technology and services answer this call by enabling websites to offer a more personalized consumer experience, while boosting sales across the board." inQ's chat solutions for online businesses are designed to help any company generate increased website revenue -- both through initial sales and cross-sell promotions after a primary purchase is made. Through its partnership with Vertrue, inQ is promoting partnerQ, a tool available to all clients that enables them to monetize the post-transaction page of their websites. Through a non-intrusive live Chat Box on the order confirmation page, online sales agents offer customers incentives, discounts, membership club sign-ups and other loyalty-building promotions that online businesses use to turn one-time shoppers into repeat buyers. inQ clients can also customize the post-transaction chat to include specific cross-sell programs offered by their clients' partner or affiliate merchants or help them design their own loyalty programs.
"We are very excited to be working with inQ both on an investor level and through our partnership," said David Schachne, EVP of Business Development for Vertrue. "Our membership and loyalty programs, designed to offer consumers everyday savings and event-oriented discounts, are a perfect fit for inQ's cross-sell solution, partnerQ. We are confident that customers will be responsive to the personal interaction provided by inQ's live Chat Agents and in turn be excited to participate in our programs." "Consumers desire a personal online sales experience and businesses are looking for ways to respond to their customers' needs while driving online sales," said Bernard Louvat, President and CEO of inQ. "By offering our proprietary live chat technology, a best in class chat center with trained representatives and access to our marketing agency expertise, inQ offers websites a fully outsourced three-tiered solution to online sales generation. With funding to grow our business and technology as well as our strategic alliance with Vertrue, we are well positioned to offer our clients a comprehensive online sales tool." About inQ Founded in 1999, inQ is a leading developer of chat marketing solutions for e-commerce websites allowing businesses to populate their sites with salespeople through live chat. inQ uses Live-Agents to interact with consumers in pre and post-sale transactions, helping sites deliver more personalized one-on-one sales, and enhance up-sell and cross-sell opportunities with customers. By utilizing state-of-the-art and proprietary live chat technology and trained and experienced online sales representatives, inQ offers clients 24/7 online marketing solutions that are completely customized by inQ's in-house Marketing Agency to meet the specific needs of every client. inQ is working with companies in the retail, travel, telecom, media, software, financial services and ISP sectors. More information can be found by visiting http://www.inq.com/ About Dolphin Equity Partners Dolphin Equity Partners specializes in investments in private communications companies operating in the U.S. and abroad. Located in New York, Dolphin currently manages over $340 million in capital. Dolphin seeks to obtain significant equity positions in early and expansion stage companies with the potential for substantial growth in new or emerging communications technologies, software and services. Since 1998, Dolphin has been shaping the future of communications through highly selective investing, and through the strategic direction they provide to the management of their portfolio companies. For more information please visit http://www.dolphinequity.com/.
About Hudson Ventures Hudson Ventures is an early-stage venture capital fund focusing on enterprise software & services, new media, wireless and security technologies, with an emphasis on financial services and online marketing technologies. Hudson Ventures manages over $170 million and since its formation in 1996 has invested in over 40 technology companies, most of which are located in the northeast between Massachusetts and Virginia. Hudson's partners have decades of operating experience and are actively involved in their portfolio companies' operations. Some of Hudson's successful exits include: Guardent (sold to Verisign), webMethods (IPO), Pathlight Technologies (sold to Advanced Digital Information Corp.), i-Traffic (sold to Agency.com), and TechRx (sold to NDC Health). For more information please visit http://www.hudsonventures.com/.
About Vertrue Headquartered in Stamford, Conn., Vertrue Incorporated (NASDAQ:VTRU) is a category leader in both membership and loyalty programs, bringing value direct to consumers through an array of benefits in healthcare, discounts, security and personals. With broad online and offline distribution capabilities, Vertrue offers its corporate client partners effective tools to enhance market presence, strengthen customer affinity and generate additional value. For more information pleased visit http://www.vertrue.com/.
Press Contact:
Todd Barrish
Connors Communications
212.798.1410
DATASOURCE: inQ CONTACT: Todd Barrish of Connors Communications, +1-212-798-1410, or Web site: http://www.inq.com/ http://www.dolphinequity.com/ http://www.hudsonventures.com/ http://www.vertrue.com/
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