Robert Fabbio, co-founder of eRelevance, photo by John Davidson

Robert Fabbio, co-founder of eRelevance, photo by John Davidson

eRelevance Corp., which makes a marketing platform for small to medium sized businesses to engage customers, on Thursday announced it has raised $4.5 million in its Series A round of funding.

The Austin-based startup, co-founded in 2013 by serial entrepreneur Bob Fabbio, has raised $8.6 million since launching. The company plans to use the money for sales and marketing and other resources to support its growth.

Rally Ventures, based in Silicon Valley, led the investment round. Other participants included Chicago Ventures, Miramar Venture Partners and Rothenberg Ventures along with an existing group of angel investors.

“eRelevance is addressing a real problem for the (small-medium business) market as the challenges of modern marketing are too difficult for SMBs to solve with software. SMBs require great customer service, great customer results, lots of internal domain expertise and continued innovation to deliver results over time,” Tom Peterson, venture partner, Rally Ventures, said in a news release. “eRelevance is solving this problem and we’re excited to be part of the company’s future.”

As part of the funding deal, Peterson is also joining eRelevance’s board of directors.

“Our technology enabled marketing automation service gives SMBs a new affordable choice in helping them grow their business. Because we’ve automated much of what is traditionally labor intensive work using marketing software tools we are able to deliver high quality work in a very responsive manner, at a price point that is difficult to compete with. And, unlike others, we quantify the value that we are delivering with nearly immediate return on investment,” Fabbio, co-founder and CEO of eRelevance Corporation. Fabbio has founded several companies in Austin including Tivoli and White Glove Health.

Silicon Hills News did this profile on eRelevance Corp. last summer.