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Venture Capital News: FantasySalesTeam Secures Seed Financing

2014-04-15
AUSTIN, TX, FantasySalesTeam, which helps companies of all sizes run more engaging and higher performing sales contests, has closed on seed financing.
FantasySalesTeam, which helps companies of all sizes run more engaging and higher performing sales contests, has closed on seed financing, funded by ATX Seed Ventures, the Central Texas Angel Network, Marvel Venture Partners, and select individual investors.

FantasySalesTeam has developed a powerful online platform which allows sales managers to drive increased activity and results through team based competition; all modeled on fantasy sports. FantasySalesTeam launched in June 2013, has 50+ customers and announced v2.0 of their platform earlier this week.

'The most rewarding part of starting this company has been the customer feedback. Sales managers and reps tell us all the time that this is the most fun sales contest they've ever run,' said Adam Hollander, CEO, FantasySalesTeam. 'Most importantly, they're seeing measurable increases in sales activity, engagement and results.'

Rick Hanson, VP Global Sales and Field Operations, Hewlett-Packard (HP) said, 'I've been an executive in sales for over twenty years and it's rare that you run across a technology like FantasySalesTeam that can have such an impact in a limited amount of time.' HP has run several FantasySalesTeam games, which are fully integrated with their CRM, Salesforce.com.

FantasySalesTeam was also recently named Top Sales Gamification Tool by Richardson, a leading sales training and consulting firm.

'The fact that FantasySalesTeam is flexible and customizable to fit any sales environment, can monitor dozens of performance metrics without operational hassle, and rewards competitive, as well as team based selling, appears to be a game changer,' said Jim Brodo, SVP, Richardson.

The term 'gamification' has really taken hold over the last several years. However, FantasySalesTeam's goal has never been to simply 'gamify' sales. It has always been to create a new breed of sales contest; one that solves the problems that cause traditional incentive programs to underperform. The company has published a video showcasing the top three reasons sales contests fail at http://www.fantasysalesteam.com/video.

'I'm a huge fan of bringing engagement and measured results to the workplace,' said Chris Shonk, Managing Director, ATX Seed Ventures. 'While 'gamification' may be uttered often in media it has rarely been executed well, and that is exactly what FantasySalesTeam has done. Traction speaks louder than any phase de jour, or board room zeitgeist; Adam and his team have developed a great product, with emphatic customers, in a massive and growing market. I'm elated to join the team and help take this Austin prodigy to the big leagues.'

'This is just the beginning,' said CEO Hollander. 'This funding will allow us to rapidly expand our client base across all industries, make a number of exciting enhancements to the product and most importantly, ensure customer success.' The company is already developing a mobile version of its application and will shortly be expanding its integration platform.

About FantasySalesTeam

Lots of companies run sales contests - but few drive meaningful improvement or results through them. That's because there are a number of underlying problems with the way most traditional sales contests are designed. FantasySalesTeam is a web based software application that allows sales managers to run more fun, more effective sales contests that keep reps engaged and yield improved results. Learn more at http://www.fantasysalesteam.com.

About ATX Seed Ventures

ATX Seed Ventures provides capital, contacts and experience for Entrepreneurs by Entrepreneurs. The fund's ATX A-Team is a cadre of Austin's most successful and influential entrepreneurs. We are hands-on partners for today's most passionate entrepreneurs, together forging the promising companies of tomorrow.

About The Central Texas Angel Network

The Central Texas Angel Network is one of the leading Angel Networks in the nation, with over 120 individual Angel Investors. In 2013, CTAN invested $9.7 million in 33 local startup companies.

About Marvel Venture Partners

Marvel Venture Partners actively drives technological disruption through proven methods of business incubation. Nationwide investments and early stage capital injection highlight our commitment to strategically developing innovative organizations while forming symbiotic, long-lasting partnerships.
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