Bazaarvoice Secures Nearly $9M in Second Round Funding

Profitable market leader in hosted social commerce applications further builds momentum with second financing round from Battery Ventures and Austin Ventures

Austin, TX– September 11, 2007 –Bazaarvoice, the market and technology leader in hosted social commerce applications that drive sales, today announced it has secured $8.8 million in a second round of funding from Battery Ventures and Austin Ventures. Battery Ventures led the round, and General Partner Neeraj Agrawal has joined Bazaarvoice’s Board of Directors. Bazaarvoice also welcomed the participation of first-round investors First Round Capital; Julie Constantin, co-founder of Constantin Partners; Jamie Crouthamel, founder and former CEO of Performics; and David Reibstein, co-founder and ten-year Board member of BizRate / Shopzilla. Bazaarvoice will use this new capital to extend its market leadership and expand its social commerce solutions to better serve existing customers as well as reach customers in new vertical markets.

Since launching in January 2006, Bazaarvoice has signed over 120 brand-name customers, including Bass Pro Shops, Dell, Macy’s, Overstock.com, PETCO, QVC and Sears. These leading brands have implemented Bazaarvoice to incorporate relevant and authentic consumer-generated content - including customer reviews, photos and videos - into the online shopping experience. Shoppers at these sites can now connect with each other to make better purchase decisions, which results in increased sales, reduced return rates and higher customer trust and satisfaction.

 “The world of sales and marketing has been forever changed by social media, and Bazaarvoice has turned the exploding trend of user-generated content into a successful business by using it to deliver clear and measurable ROI to big brands,” said Neeraj Agrawal, general partner at Battery Ventures and new Bazaarvoice Board of Directors member.  “Bazaarvoice is a great example of a profitable, capital efficient software as a service business with a proven revenue model and highly satisfied clients. Battery is excited to support the company’s growth and continued commitment to executing on its long-term vision of helping online companies dramatically increase sales through social commerce.”

“As one of the initial investors in Bazaarvoice, Austin Ventures recognized early on that the company would become the market leader in the emerging social commerce market, and they have surpassed our expectations by successfully servicing some of the biggest names in online commerce,” said Chris Pacitti, general partner at Austin Ventures. “We are pleased to welcome Battery Ventures, a top-tier venture investor, as a partner committed to Bazaarvoice’s continued rapid growth.”

Since its launch, Bazaarvoice has been at the forefront of technological and marketing innovation in social commerce, largely responsible for driving the adoption of trusted consumer ratings and reviews. Bazaarvoice now services over 120 branded websites, and in July, Bazaarvoice served over 500 million customer ratings and reviews for its clients, doubling the number from four months earlier. Expanding from a foundation in ratings and reviews, Bazaarvoice launched new social commerce capabilities, including Ask & Answer™, community-driven Q & A for any product or service page, and SyndicateVoice™, a solution for driving natural search and shopping portal traffic through user-generated content. As more and more consumers turn to authentic and trusted user-generated content to make informed purchase decisions, Bazaarvoice expects the number of worldwide clients it serves and its user-generated content volume to grow at an unprecedented rate.

“Combined with our success in servicing Fortune-class customers and working with over 30 top technology partners, this investment is further validation of our vision to serve clients with social commerce solutions that drive measurable impact and accelerate a long-term word of mouth strategy,” said Brett Hurt, founder and CEO of Bazaarvoice. “Bazaarvoice will use this new capital from our first-tier VC partners to accelerate growth worldwide, introduce new and innovative products and services, and better serve our customers.”

About Bazaarvoice
Bazaarvoice offers outsourced technology, services, analytics, and expertise to help companies enhance the online shopping experience with social commerce applications that drive sales. Bazaarvoice Ratings & Reviews™ and Ask & Answer™ deliver immediate success by minimizing implementation risk and maximizing the strategic impact of user-generated review content through complete customization, deep integration, community management, advanced analytics, search engine optimization, and syndication across the Web and to offline channels.

Bazaarvoice was named a Red Herring Top 100 company in 2006 and received the 2006 ClickZ Marketing Innovation of the Year award. Bazaarvoice currently serves over 120 eCommerce leaders including Bass Pro Shops, Dell, Macy’s, Overstock.com, PETCO, QVC, Sears, and ZipRealty. The company has headquarters in Austin, TX and offices in London, UK. For more information, please visit the company’s Web site at www.bazaarvoice.com or email .

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