Virtual Race Bags, the producer of the ‘Virtual Goody Bag Platform’ for race events, has closed its Series A funding round of US$900,000 – delivering funds that will enable the company’s next phase of expansion. The round was co-led by Inception Micro Angel Fund (IMAF) – Charlotte and Piedmont Angel Network (PAN). The Upstate Carolina Angel Network (UCAN) and existing investors also participated in the round.
Virtual Race Bags provides ‘an affordable, turn-key digital marketing platform to organizers of endurance events.’ The platform enables event sponsors to provide special offers and brand messages to participants while capturing valuable performance metrics.
“We are honoured to receive funding and support from three of the top angel funds in the area. IMAF, PAN and UCAN worked extremely well together to make this an efficient process for all of us,” said Gary Schwake, President & Co-Founder of Virtual Race Bags.
“The Virtual Race Bags platform is now being used by over 250 events across the US and Canada, and will reach over 1.5 million participants in 2012, with 20-30 new events added every month,” Schwake continued. “Endurance events are quickly adopting the platform to enhance the participant experience and to add value to their sponsors, which in turn provides events an incremental revenue stream.”
Chris Bradle, Chief Creative Officer & Co-Founder added, “National brands are using the Virtual Race Bags network to efficiently reach active lifestyle athletes. Because the Virtual Race Bag is available exclusively to event participants and only open a few days before and after the event, we are seeing engagement rates many times higher than all other forms of digital media.”
Proceeds of the Series A round are being used to build on the company’s sales, client service and engineering teams in order to support its aggressive growth strategy.
“Because a virtual goody bag is a fundamentally better experience for athlete, sponsor and event, we believe it will become a part of every endurance event in the US, Canada and across the world,” Schwake concluded. “Our goal is to continue our industry leading position as the platform of choice for event organizers.”
