TechCrunch, July 14, written by by Mark Hendrickson
TrackVia provides software as a service for transforming ordinary spreadsheets into versatile databases. The Colorado-based startup has raised its first major round of institutional funding, the amount of which (while not disclosed) is being described as a “typical Series A”.
The round’s investors include two VCs out of the Rockies - Flywheel Ventures and Access Venture Partners - plus some notable angels, including Tim Draper of Draper Fisher Jurvetson. Prior to this Series A, TrackVia had raised less than $1 million since launching in February 2006.
TrackVia appeals to SMBs that need to organize, access, and analyze business critical data that might typically be placed into Excel or Access files. By importing these files into TrackVia, the data can be searched and queried as with traditional relational databases. It can also be used to generate statistics, print out mailing labels, run email campaigns, create custom views, and generate web forms (think Wufoo). Images and other files can be loaded and associated with entries, and the system retains a comprehensive change history for all entries. Permissions can also be set on a per-entry basis.
TrackVia competes with Blist (review) and DabbleDB (review), although its customers don’t tend to bring these companies up; they’re more likely to mention Intuit’s QuickBase and Act. TrackVia’s executives suggest that its customers are not so much interested in sharing their data broadly but are rather looking for better ways to handle information internally.
