Ella Wirtz and Courtney Rodgers co-founded Boutique Window in August 2012.
Two weeks ago, Ella Wirtz and Courtney Rodgers launched their marketing software following three months of private tests with around two-dozen stores. This week, nine months into their startup journey, the duo announced their latest milestone: Boutique Window closed a $650,000 Series A round.
The new capital, which comes from software investment firm Nebraska Global, education company Nelnet and an undisclosed private investor, will allow the company to grow its team—it plans to hire two developers and a marketing and support specialist—and ramp up its sales and marketing efforts. Initially, it’ll focus efforts on Midwest cities, Wirtz said in a press release.
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“Our goal is to become the engine that powers online marketing for small retailers across the country,” Rodgers said in an email interview.
In other words, Boutique Window wants to help brick-and-mortar retailers connect with their shoppers online, driving foot traffic and sales instore. To do so, it offers tools that make it easy for retailers to mass upload photos of merchandise—to their own website and social networks—edit those photos and add details. Subscriptions to the software cost $40-60 per month.
Since the startup is already helping stores showcase merchandise, one might wonder why there’s no option to sell online. “This is definitely something on our radar but we have no immediate plans to integrate ecommerce,” Rodgers said Monday, noting the option is likely to create more headache than value for its users.
If Boutique Window ends up offering an ecommerce component, she said, it will only be when it can be integrated into the day-to-day operations of running a physical store. But its their focus now on online marketing versus sales, Rodgers said, that sets their platform apart. “There isn’t a service that offers the same kind of automation that Boutique Window provides for posting product information online if a store doesn’t want to sell online,” she said.
“Ella and Courtney epitomize what we look for.” – Patrick Smith, Nebraska Global
For investors, it wasn’t just the software that made this deal stick out.
“We are excited to invest in Boutique Window and to support two impressive entrepreneurs,” Nelnet director Chuck Norris said Monday in a press release. Nelnet, a public company, has backed more than a half-dozen startups.
“Ella and Courtney epitomize what we look for as they are tenacious, very mindful and focused on what they want to accomplish and complementary to our expertise,” said Patrick Smith, COO of Nebraska Global. “This allows us to share experience in software and make a partnership more than just investment dollars.” The two are based in Nebraska Global’s office, where they have been since last year.
Before raising this Series A, the two took investment from friends and family and received the Nebraska Innovation Fund Prototyping Grant. Enough capital, Rodgers said, to hire Nebraska Global’s Don’t Panic Labs to build out a prototype and begin private beta test with retailers.
For more on Nelnet, which recently led MindMixer’s Series B round, see our post: “With local investing approach, Nelnet aims for a ‘better community’“.
Here’s a Boutique Window promotional video showcasing its offering to retailers:
Credits: Ella Wirtz and Courtney Rodgers photo courtesy Boutique Window. Video from Boutique Window on YouTube.
