Edmonton’s Empire Avenue raises $1.2 million, adds Foursquare and Instagram to scoring platform

Edmonton-born startup Empire Avenue, a social media-based stock market platform, has just announced that it has raised a $1.2 million round.

The investment round comes from a large roster of firms and investors: Crosslink Capital and iNovia Capital plus a slew of venture capitalists and angels, including BioWare co-founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschukm as well as Boris Wertz (who is an investor in Techvibes).

In addition to the investment round, Empire Avenue has also added Foursquare and Instagram to its scoring platform.

“We’re really excited to be backed by such a respected group of investors, who’ve all shown that they believe in the long-term potential of our socially-driven economy,” said Duleepa Wijayawardhana, CEO of Empire Avenue. “We will leverage their experience and involvement to grow the company and explore new ideas, platforms and connections. It’s about to get really fun for us, our new and existing users, and the brands who have already partnered with us.”

“The Empire Avenue team has an ambitious long-term vision for its platform, and we’re excited to help them make that vision a reality,” said Eric Chin, Partner at Crosslink. “They already offer a great product that’s generating revenue and providing a lot of value to users from around the world by helping them build deep relationships and get insight into their social media engagement and network value. We have a lot of faith in the team’s ability to expand the platform into a very strong, profitable business.” 

“We are really excited by the growth and future prospects of Empire Avenue,” said Kevin Swan, Principal at iNovia Capital. “Managing your online brand and social influence, as an individual or a company, has become extremely important in our digital age. Empire Avenue’s platform provides a fun and engaging way to measure and track your activity across the social web.”