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 Members of the management of Pigsback's parent company, Empathy Marketing Limited, (EML) also contributed to the round of funding. However, EML's chief executive officer, Michael Dwyer, declined to reveal who the specific investors were or how much of the investment came from the company's management.
Pigsback.com is an on-line marketing company and is the flagship brand of EML.
It was very difficult to obtain the necessary funding, Dwyer said. "Given the current market conditions, it is hugely important and significant that we succeeded."
The funding was necessary to maintain the company's staffing levels and to implement its expansion plans that should lead to profitability in April 2002, Dwyer told ElectricNews.Net. He said Pigsback.com is planning to open offices in Belfast in November and will launch its Northern Ireland activities in March. The Belfast office will initially employ two people. In Dublin the company has 18 employees.
"I see our Northern Ireland activities as a hugely important stepping stone to Britain," Dwyer said. "We are planning to open in Scotland and maybe in the long term also England. But before we move on we want to see that our current expansion plans are successful."
Part of the deal with Xtra-vision, a subsidiary of Blockbuster Inc, is a new campaign that Pigsback.com is currently running in the Xtra-vision video and DVD stores. "There is huge traffic in those stores and we encourage them to join Pigsback.com and in return they will get a free video-rental," Dwyer said.
As a result of the campaign in the Xtra-vision stores, membership is currently growing by 4,000 a week, the company said. Pigsback.com now has 85,000 members and expects to have 110,000 subscribers by the end of the year.
In return Pigsback.com will offer its members various Xtra-vision deals. A section of its Web site is entirely devoted to Xtra-vision. Additionally, Xtra-vision will be allowed to use the Pigsback.com database for marketing purposes.
"We are both fun brands," Dwyer commented. "Our members love movies and all kinds of entertainment."
The agreement with Pigsback.com is a logical extension of the Xtra-vision brand into the on-line world, according to Martin Higgins, managing director of Xtra-vision. "This deal represents an important synergy for both companies. In addition to our initial investment we will utilise our store base to develop the Pigsback.com brand and database," Higgins commented.
For more information: http://www.pigsback.com.
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