Parature
Encyclopedia
Parature, Inc. is a U.S. software company that develops on-demand customer service and social engagement software for small and mid-market businesses. It is incorporated in Delaware and headquartered in Vienna, Virginia.

Profile

The company was founded in 2001 by five co-founders (Duke Chung, Liang Weng, Calvin Lam, Casey Golden, and Gennady Nurik) in Ithaca, New York. Today, Parature is headquartered in Vienna, VA and has a second office in San Francisco, California.

Parature provides on-demand customer service and support software. Parature’s software suite includes multi-channel service, support, content management, customer feedback management, and reporting, and is delivered through the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) business model. The current version of Parature Customer Service is Summer '11.

As of December 2010, the company has more than 900 subscription customersCustomers Page on Parature's Corporate Website , including Nascar, NBA, Thomson Reuters, IBM, Florida State University, EPA The Kellogg School of Management, The Wharton School, Travelodge, SuccessFactors, Rosetta Stone, Warner Bros., WebMD, Nickelodeon, Pokemon, Kohler, Cox Communications, RockYou, YMCA, Washington Post, Sage Payment Solutions, Massachusetts Bay Transit System, Marketo, LivingSocial and The Weather Channel.

History

Parature began as Cyracle, a live chat software product created by five college students in a dorm room at Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...

 in Ithaca, New York. The company moved to Herndon, Virginia
Herndon, Virginia
Herndon is a town in Fairfax County, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area of the United States. The population was 21,655 at the 2000 census, which makes it the largest of three towns in the county.-History:...

 in 2001 and secured angel investment funding from Ching-Ho Fung, the first angel behind Blackboard Inc.
Blackboard Inc.
Blackboard Inc. is an enterprise software company with its corporate headquarters in Washington, D.C. and is primarily known as a developer of education software, in particular learning management systems. Blackboard was founded by CEO Michael Chasen and chairman Matthew Pittinsky in 1997 and...

 (NASDAQ: BBBB).

The company began to add additional applications to its product offering, creating an integrated customer service suite and officially launched their official product in 2002.

2003: the company changed the name from Cyracle to Parature, which means "Paradigm of the Future" and then moved its offices to Reston, Virginia.

2006: the company had grown to 300 subscription customers and re-located to Vienna, VA where the company headquarters are currently located. Parature opened an office in San Francisco, California in late 2006. The company secured $13.5 million in Series A venture capital in 2006 from Valhalla Partners
Valhalla Partners
Valhalla Partners, based in Vienna, Virginia, is a venture capital firm.The Valhalla team has invested in or served as senior executives in over 100 entrepreneurial companies. Valhalla currently manages approximately $440 million over two funds....

 and Sierra Ventures.Parature Nets $13.5 Million Funding, New Board Members

2007: Webex (now a part of Cisco) signed a distribution agreement to resell Parature's products and services to their customers.

2008: Parature secured a $16 million expansion round from Accel Partners
Accel Partners
Accel Partners is a global venture and growth equity firm funding companies from inception through the growth stage.The firm is based in Palo Alto, California with major offices in Bangalore, Beijing, London, and Shanghai....

.

2009: Parature enabled customer portals served more than 16 million end users and powered more than 1 million support tickets a month.

2010: Parature announced a new social response management product called "Parature for Facebook", the Industry’s First and Only Customer Service Application for Directly Engaging with Customers, Prospects and Fans on Facebook. Rosetta Stone became the first customer to use the new Parature for Facebook app on their Facebook Page.

January 2011: Parature had more than 45 new customers using "Parature for Facebook" including Tracfone, Gatorade, U.S. State Department, and Cox Communications. Twitter management functionality is added as well. Parature establishes itself as the leading provider of social engagement software.

June 2011: Parature enabled customer experience portals served nearly 30 million end users globally.

Market and Industry Recognition

Parature is been the recipient of a number of industry awards for their software.


Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) CODiE Finalist

Product of the Year Award from Communications Solutions

NVTC "Hottest Management Team” Award

AlwaysOn Global 250 Winner

JMP Securities Hot 100

Inc. 5000 fastest growing private companies in America

WebAward from Web Marketing Association

Deloitte Fast 50 – Fastest Growing Technology Companies in Virginia - Ranked #20

SSPA Recognized Innovator Award

Software 500 – World’s Largest Software and Services Providers

Deloitte Technology Fast 500 – Fastest Growing Technology Companies in North America

Customer Interaction Solutions’ Product of the Year

Bisnow on Business – ’35 under 35 Top Entrepreneurs of the Washington Region’

SmartCEO Future 50

CRM Excellence Award from TMC

CRM Service Rising Star Award from CRM Magazine

Smart100 Companies

CODiE Award Finalist in 2 categories

SmartCEO/BDO Seidman Future 50 Award

Customer Interaction Solutions Product of the Year

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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