I just got word from the guys at AideRSS to let me know that they have closed their first round of funding. AideRSS has grown from 2 guys with an idea to 8 employees now, and the hiring is still going on. I first profiled the Waterloo, Ont. company in July of last year when things were just getting off the ground, so I am really excited to get word that they now have some money to really build on their momentum.
When I spoke with them earlier in the week, Kevin and Ilya said that this will give them 1 year of operating time in order to experiment with some of the nuances of their business plan, and to focus on building the product. They also indicated that they are in the final stages of putting together some partnerships which are worth waiting to hear about.
The round, the size of which is undisclosed as of now, was lead by Tech Capital Partners in Waterloo along with a group angel investors. AideRSS is also working with the University of Waterloo on a few research projects that will help enhance their filtering engine and will bring improvements to their end-user tools. Taking advantage of a local resource like the university a smart move, especially in a place with a great university like UOW.
AideRSS is now a significant player in a healthy industry. Feedburner.com was acquired by Google for $100million last year and AideRSS continues to offer a completely unique and useful service. Another big difference since last July is that PostRank, the secret sauce that gives a score based on external links and social uses of the RSS content, is now Patent Pending.
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