TraceLink, helping the pharma industry trace and track drugs, lands $51.5M from Goldman Sachs

 TraceLink, the SaaS platform for tracking and tracing pharmaceuticals, has today announced the close of a $51.5 million Series C financing led by Goldman Sachs Growth Equity. Existing investors, such as FirstMark Capital, Volition Capital, and F-Prime Capital, also participated in the round. As part of the deal, Goldman’s Jason Kreuziger is joining TraceLink’s board of… Read More

Facebook Unveils New Community Help, Safety Check, Donation and Non-Profit Partnership Tools

Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) recently unveiled some new tools as part of its Live feature at the social network’s first Social Good Forum held on 17 November in New York.

The new tools include community help, safety check, an expanded fundraiser features, and nonprofit partnerships.

New Facebook Features for November 2016

Naomi Gleit, VP Social Good at Facebook, said the new tools are designed to “empower our community to do more good in the world and help keep them safe.”

Gleit detailed the updates and new features in a post on the official Facebook News blog:

• Community Help, a new feature that lets you ask for or offer help, including shelter, food and supplies after a natural disaster
• Safety Check, a simple way to let friends and family know you’re okay during a crisis, will now be triggered entirely by our community, not Facebook
• Expanding Fundraisers so people can raise money for more than 750,000 nonprofits and add a donate button to Live videos and posts
• Nonprofit partnerships with Movember this month and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on Giving Tuesday

Mark Zuckerberg added in a related video post that ultimately the motivation for creating these tools is threefold. It is to try to prevent bad things from happening. It is to try to help out when something bad is happening. And finally, it is to provide ongoing help after something bad has happened.

Small businesses can leverage Facebook’s new tools to do more social good themselves, including fundraise on behalf of U.S.-based 501(c)3 nonprofits to help out those in need, donate or collect donations for worthy causes like women’s health, and more.

“We’re inspired by how much good comes from connecting on Facebook but we know we can do more,” Gleit stressed in the Newsroom post.

Image: Facebook

This article, "Facebook Unveils New Community Help, Safety Check, Donation and Non-Profit Partnership Tools" was first published on Small Business Trends

Spotlight: Ships-a-Lot Helps Ecommerce Businesses Fulfill Orders

Order fulfillment is an incredibly important part of running an ecommerce business. But it’s not always easy. That’s where Ships-a-Lot comes in.

The company was born out of the needs of another ecommerce company. And now it provides fulfillment services for a variety of different ecommerce businesses. You can read more about the business in this week’s Small Business Spotlight.

What the Business Does

Provides ecommerce fulfillment services.

Co-founder Zach Zitney told Small Business Trends, “We are an ecommerce fulfillment center that works with fast growing ecommerce stores to reduce their shipping costs and fulfillment expenses.”

Business Niche

Focusing on the customer experience.

Zitney says, “We work closely with each client and make ourselves available to them at all times to ensure a high level of customer satisfaction not only for our clients but for our clients customers.”

How the Business Got Started

From the needs of another business.

Zitney explains, “Ships-a-Lot was started by 3 entrepreneurs who were working on another ecommerce business (JerkyXP.com). As that business grew we needed to either outsource our order fulfillment or figure out how to do it ourselves. After finding that there were very few fulfillment centers that utilized new age warehouse management technology, we decided to start our own fulfillment center.”

Biggest Win

Working with high level Shopify Plus stores.

Zitney says, “These stores ship 10’s of thousands of orders per month. Through simple email outreach we were in contact with these stores and since we knew how to approach ecommerce owners we hit a soft spot with them when it came to order fulfillment. Working with high level Shopify stores meant that we were able to add validation that Ships-a-Lot was the new age of order fulfillment.”

Biggest Risk

Taking on their first big client.

Zitney says, “We knew we had everything in place to make it work flawlessly but as always with the first time doing something there are chances it might not work as planned. In our case we had everything in place to handle it, thus validating that we could handle 100x the order volume. If this would have gone bad we would have ruined are credibility as a fulfillment center and quite possibly been responsible for the losing of our clients customers. In the end it proved that we could continue to bring on larger and larger companies with zero flaws.”

Favorite Team Snack

Pizza and crazy bread.

Company Mascot

A dog CEO.

Zitney explains, “Our CEO is a dog and has over 80,000 followers on Twitter.” (@JackTheCEO)

* * * * *

Find out more about the Small Biz Spotlight program

Images: Ships-a-Lot; Top Image: From left to right: @JackTheCEO Company mascot and CEO (Yorkie), Max Zitney Co Founder, Zach Lukaszek Co Founder, Maurice Clarett Local Business Colleague, Youngstown entrepreneur and former Ohio State football player, Lance Propst Warehouse Manager and operations, Zach Zitney Co Founder

This article, "Spotlight: Ships-a-Lot Helps Ecommerce Businesses Fulfill Orders" was first published on Small Business Trends

Italy's banks could need €40BILLION bailout after Renzi defeat

ITALY'S crisis-hit banks could need a massive €40BILLION rescue if, as expected, the Prime Minister loses Sunday's crucial referendum.

Dubsmash syncs €9 million Series B

 Dubsmash, the lip-syncing video app from Berlin that became a surprise social hit last year, has raised Series B funding. According to multiple sources — and now confirmed by the company — Sunstone Capital has led a €9 million (~$9.6m) round with participation from Index Ventures, Balderton Capital, Eniac Venture, and Lowercase Capital. Read More

Eric Schmidt-backed data science startup Civis Analytics raises $22M

 Civis Analytics, a company founded by the chief analytics officer of Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign, has raised $22 million in Series A funding. Founder and CEO Dan Wagner told me that after the election, he discovered that many organizations — whether they were in politics, government or business — were dealing with problems similar to the ones he faced during… Read More

4 Mobile Marketing Trends to Focus on in 2017

As we begin our descent to the end of 2016, it’s vital for small businesses to look ahead to 2017 and beyond. Creative marketing can set your business apart from the pack, so it’s wise to stay updated on new approaches and trends.

The amount of consumers accessing the web via mobile devices now outweighs desktop users. These days, it’s not enough to just be “mobile friendly.” Here are four ways your small business should be utilizing mobile marketing in the upcoming year.

Mobile Marketing Trends for 2017

Mobile Search

One of the most important factors is that your business is visible via mobile search. Confirm that your website is responsive, meaning it automatically adjusts to the device being viewed on. This will help your rank with Google and ensure you don’t lose customers over poor functionality.

Your next course of action involves identifying key mobile word searches for your industry. What questions are potential customers typing into their mobile searches that your product or service can fulfill?

Once you identify the search questions, you can determine how to deliver the content-based solution.

Mobile Payments

Consumers are more comfortable than ever using mobile payment options. Make sure your business is set up to accept mobile pay for your goods and services. “Buy” buttons already exist on various platforms, including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Imagine you’re in the market for a new coffeemaker. You’ve done some online research and think you’ve landed on a pretty great Cuisinart, but you’re not totally convinced.

Later, while scrolling Facebook … what do you notice? A Cuisinart ad directly on your Facebook news feed! Not only is it an ad, it’s an ad showcasing the very model you were just researching. Directly on that ad, there’s a “Buy” button that will quickly and conveniently have you well on your way to coffee heaven.

Instead of sending you to another site for payment, you’re able to purchase directly from your news feed effortlessly. Because consumers don’t have to go through multiple steps to make a purchase and the potential for distractions or hesitation is decreased, sales increase. As awareness goes up and retailers begin using these buttons more often, this tool could really take flight in 2017.

Mobile Apps

A recent Gallup poll indicates that 72 percent of Americans check their phones at least once an hour. The overwhelming majority of that time, up to 90 percent, is using apps. If your business doesn’t currently have a mobile app, now is the time!

Apps increase engagement, provides your business with customer data and increases the ways in which you are able to connect with your audience. Mobile app development can be done inexpensively and stands to benefit even the smallest companies by growing awareness of your brand. 

Mobile-Only Social

We all know how big social platforms are, but mobile-only social apps continue to rise in popularity. Periscope, Snapchat, Instagram and others should be part of your mobile marketing strategy. Make sure you’re always monitoring your social channels (either live or via social listening tools) and tailoring your message accordingly.

Don’t post the same content at the same time across all platforms. This leads to message fatigue and is the quickest way to lose subscribers. Connect with your followers by posting in-the-moment pictures and video that reflects your brand philosophy, experiences and attitude.

Marketing trends will come and go, but to capitalize on growth, you must stay current. Mobile will continue to expand in pervasiveness, so be sure your business is well supported.

Mobile Phone Photo via Shutterstock

This article, "4 Mobile Marketing Trends to Focus on in 2017" was first published on Small Business Trends

Facebook has cut off Prisma’s Live Video access

 Style transfer startup Prisma added support to its iOS app for livestreaming its art filter effects in real-time via Facebook Live earlier this month — but almost immediately the startup’s access to the Live API was cut off by the social media platform giant. Read More

Instagram Introduces Two New Features that Borrow From Periscope and Snapchat

Instagram is putting the popular ephemeral spin on video streaming and private messaging.

Taking a page out of the books of Snapchat and Periscope, the app is introducing two new features: live video and disappearing photos and videos for groups and friends in Instagram Direct.

The New Instagram Features for November 2016

Built on the existing “Stories” feature, Live video allows users to broadcast videos to friends and family in real-time. Once they are done, the live story disappears from the app.

The other feature is disappearing photos and videos from groups and friends in Instagram Direct. This feature works pretty much the same way as Snapchat. Users can draw on the disappearing photos and add text. The photos and videos disappear from the recipients’ inboxes after they have seen them.

Instagram’s head of product Kevin Weil said the goal of both live streaming and private disappearing photos were all about broadening the scope of the service. “Instagram should be a platform for all your moments,” he told Variety, arguing that Instagram had over the past few years turned into a highly curated service for people’s best photos, and that these new additions would allow for more intimate and less polished experiences.

But it’s evident that these new updates are sending a clear message: Instagram wants to take on Snapchat. Interestingly, this isn’t the first time it has been “inspired” by its competitor.

Earlier this year, Instagram launched Stories, a feature that makes the app less like the old Instagram and more like Snapchat.

This time, the stakes are higher because Snapchat doesn’t have live video yet, and Instagram is pushing Stories in a big way. The company said over 100 million use Stories every day.

It will be interesting to see how Snapchat responds to this move.

Image: Instagram

This article, "Instagram Introduces Two New Features that Borrow From Periscope and Snapchat" was first published on Small Business Trends

Facebook has cut off Prisma’s Live Video access

 Style transfer startup Prisma added support to its iOS app for livestreaming its art filter effects in real-time via Facebook Live earlier this month — but almost immediately the startup’s access to the Live API was cut off by the social media platform giant. Read More

What is the Bank of England stress test and what were the 2016 results?

RBS has failed the Bank of England stress test, forcing it to draw up new plans in case of a financial crisis. But how does the test work?

Holiday Shopping Promotional Ideas Just In the Nick of Time

The bridging of ecommerce and social media has taken off in recent years, and as the holidays close in, there’s no better time to launch a campaign. Shoppers are now accustomed to seeing advertisements and promotions, and the integration of an effective social media campaign-especially right before black Friday and cyber Monday-has serious potential to drive traffic and sales.

It might be the week of Thanksgiving, but it’s still not too late to throw together a few last minute social media ideas to target holiday shoppers. Check out some of these ideas and get started today.

Holiday Marketing Ideas

Give Thanks

Since many consumers will be celebrating Thanksgiving this week, a “give thanks” campaign is a great way to interact with them. Your brand can push an image or post that expresses something you’re thankful for that rings true to your brand, and asks others to share what they’re thankful for.

In such a social media push, the sentimental value is what reaches users. You aren’t necessarily promoting products or enticing followers with the hope of turning them into customers, but rather reaching them on a more human level. The personalization of your brand makes you more relatable, which sticks with consumers long after the holidays pass.

Have a Photo Contest

I once suggested this as a marketing idea for the Fourth of July, but it can be recycled into just about any holiday or season. A photo contest is a quick and easy way to gain followers while attracting customers. All you have to do is create a post on your social media channels that explains the terms of the photo contest, and offer some kind of prize for the winner(s).

For prizes you can offer cash, gift cards, a free item, or anything else your brand has to offer. People jump at giveaways, and with all the shopper traffic the holidays generate it’s a perfect time to host such a contest.

Promote Time-sensitive Offers

A little urgency goes a long way, especially in the frenzy of holiday shopping, and a time-sensitive offer might be the last factor your customers need to make a purchase. Promoting a post that offers free shipping for a limited amount of time or a BOGO deal is a great way to entice both clicks and purchases.

Something to Keep in Mind

The main thing to keep in mind is the importance of activity. Consumers are exposed to many brands, especially during peak shopping seasons, and remaining present and relevant among your users requires consistent and compelling activity across all platforms.

Republished by permission. Original here.

Holiday Shoppers Photo via Shutterstock

This article, "Holiday Shopping Promotional Ideas Just In the Nick of Time" was first published on Small Business Trends

RBS shares PLUNGE after lender FAILS stress tests

SHARES in state-backed Royal Bank of Scotland plunged by almost three per cent this morning, after the lender was highlighted as Britain's weakest bank.

RBS FAILS stress tests as Barclays & Standard Chartered struggle but Carney stays positive

RBS, Barclays and Standard Chartered will have to raise millions after failing stress tests as Mark Carney insists UK banks are resilient and calls for an "orderly Brexit".