Exclusive – Elite Media Worx, the startup behind local deals bidding site Bidmyway, has secured $1.35 million in financing as it gears up for the public debut of its ‘eBay for deal-of-the-day sites’.
Four Directions Holdings led the round, joined by senior management and other investors, including Brad Ohlemacher, President of EMC Precision.
Bidmyway is billed as an ‘online-to-offline bidding service’ that basically allows people to name their best price, in true Priceline.com fashion, but for local goods and services, specifically.
Unlike collective purchasing sites like Groupon and LivingSocial, Bidmyway lets people individually determine what an offering for a specific restaurant, spa, hotel, or other local merchant is worth to them, based on their budget. Participating merchants can accept or reject bids based on an undisclosed threshold, and winning bids are kept confidential.
Bidmyway is also similar to the two fast-growing local commerce sites mentioned above, and many others who’re trying to emulate their business models, in the sense that you can also use the site “get daily deals now” at a given price. Elite Media Worx, the company behind Bidmyway, also operates a straight-up deal-of-the-day site over at Elite City Deals.
The startup, we should note, is the latest venture of telecommunications industry vet John Shave. The entrepreneur sold his previous company, telecom carrier Globalcom, to First Communications for close to $60 million a couple of years ago.
Shave says Elite Media Worx plans to raise a much larger round of funding in the near future, which will allow it to expand into 10 markets across the United States.
As far as I can tell, Chicago’s the only city where Bidmyway features deals for now.
