Funding and Acquisitions Roundup: Storefront lands $1.6M to help brick-and-mortar retailers rent unused space to ‘pop up’ merchants

By Brian Kovalesky, StartUp Beat Editor

Today’s early-stage startup funding and acquisitions news:

San Francisco-based Storefront, which connects small retailers with unused space in brick and mortar stores for ‘pop up’ shops, has raised $1.6 million in Seed funding. Investors include Mohr Davidow Ventures, Great Oaks Venture Capital, 500 Startups, BoxGroup and Sand Hill Angels. The company, which was founded in 2012 and was member of AngelPad’s fall 2012 accelerator class, is focused on utilizing unused retail space that allows independent retailers to rent short-term space, and creates a new revenue source for retailers with commercial space by enabling them to rent out previously wasted space. Storefront’s founders are CEO Erik Eliason, who previously co-founded SocialEarth Media and uTead.com, and COO Tristan Pollock, who was also a SocialEarth (acquired by 3BL Media last year) co-founder.

Vital Stats:

Website: www.thestorefront.com

HQ: San Francisco

Year Founded: 2012

Founders: Erik Eliason, Tristan Pollock

Investors: Mohr Davidow Ventures, Great Oaks Venture Capital, 500 Startups, BoxGroup, Sand Hill Angels (Seed)

Innovation: Allows independent retailers to rent short-term space for ‘pop up’ stores, and creates a new revenue source for retailers that have commercial space by enabling them to rent out previously wasted space.

Total Funding: $1.6 million

(Sources: Storefront, VentureBeat, TechCrunch, LinkedIn)

More funding and acquisitions news…

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Metacloud Announces $10 Million ‘Series A’ Funding to Extend Private Cloud Offerings (via company press release)

TV industry-backed second screen app ConnecTV raises $1.4M (via VentureBeat)

Planet Labs Raises $13M From DFJ, OATV, Founders Fund To Build The World’s Largest Fleet Of Earth-Imaging Satellites (via TechCrunch)

Brit + Co. raises $6.3 million to build DIY-driven media company (via GigaOm)

Quartzy snaps $6.6M in new funding to bring some order to labs (via VentureBeat)

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