Rapleaf
Encyclopedia
Rapleaf is a Web 2.0
start-up company
based in San Francisco, California
founded by Auren Hoffman
and Manish Shah. Acting primarily a B2B
firm, Rapleaf's consumer information technology helps businesses understand their customers so they can personalize experiences in real time, segment customers, understand consumer penetration across social media, plan online marketing campaigns, find influential customers for customer relationship management
, and investigate fraud.
of The Founders Fund
led a seed round of $1.0 million. Other angel investor
s in the round included Eric Di Benedetto, Aydin Senkut, Jeff Clavier, and Ron Conway
, each with a background of venture capital
-backed technology companies.
's Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology. in spring of 2004. The two worked on a project from February 2005 to November 2005. They formed Rapleaf in April 2006.
The company's first product, Rapleaf, is a meta-reputation system
that allows users to create reviews and ratings of consumer transactions, which they then contribute to multiple e commerce websites. On May 15, 2006, eBay
removed a number of auction listings where the seller had included links to Rapleaf, claiming they were in violation of its terms of use. Business commentators have had mixed opinions about this move.
On January 26, 2007, Rapleaf released Upscoop, a service that allowed users to search for and manage their contacts by email
address across multiple social networking sites. In June 2007, Rapleaf was listed among CNET News' Webware 100 Finalists, describing Rapleaf as a service that "lets [users] check on a person's reputation".
In late August 2007, Upscoop began e-mailing entire contact lists that were provided by their users when they log in. This caused some criticism, and the company later provided an apology for doing so.
On July 10, 2008, Rapleaf changed its interface so that it no longer allows users to search people by email addresses. Instead, the service only allows a registered user to view their own reputation and the websites (social and business networking) to which their own email address is registered. There was an immediate negative backlash by companies and individuals who had been using Rapleaf to both manage reputations and investigate the authenticity of people.
In May 2010, Rapleaf was included in Lead411's list of 120 "Hottest Companies in San Francisco".
In October 2010, the Wall Street Journal reported that Rapleaf had transmitted personally identifiable information, including Facebook and MySpace IDs. Rapleaf said it had inadvertently transmitted that info and had ceased the practice.
On October 28, 2010, Facebook banned Rapleaf from scraping data
on Facebook, and Rapleaf said it would delete the Facebook IDs it had collected.
In June 2011, Rapleaf launched Instant Data, a service tool that allows users to access Rapleaf's database without technical configuration.
Web 2.0
The term Web 2.0 is associated with web applications that facilitate participatory information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design, and collaboration on the World Wide Web...
start-up company
Startup company
A startup company or startup is a company with a limited operating history. These companies, generally newly created, are in a phase of development and research for markets...
based in San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
founded by Auren Hoffman
Auren Hoffman
Auren Raphael Hoffman is an American entrepreneur, CEO of Rapleaf, editor of Summation.net, angel investor, and member of Council on Foreign Relations.-Business:Hoffman sold his first tech company, while still in his 20's...
and Manish Shah. Acting primarily a B2B
Business-to-business
Business-to-business describes commerce transactions between businesses, such as between a manufacturer and a wholesaler, or between a wholesaler and a retailer...
firm, Rapleaf's consumer information technology helps businesses understand their customers so they can personalize experiences in real time, segment customers, understand consumer penetration across social media, plan online marketing campaigns, find influential customers for customer relationship management
Customer relationship management
Customer relationship management is a widely implemented strategy for managing a company’s interactions with customers, clients and sales prospects. It involves using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize business processes—principally sales activities, but also those for marketing,...
, and investigate fraud.
Investors
Rapleaf was initially self-funded by Hoffman and Shah. Peter ThielPeter Thiel
Peter Andreas Thiel is an American business magnate, venture capitalist, and hedge fund manager. With Elon Musk and Max Levchin, Thiel co-founded PayPal and was its CEO...
of The Founders Fund
The Founders Fund
Founders Fund is a San Francisco based venture capital firm which invests at all stages in companies with revolutionary technologies. The firm’s six partners, Peter Thiel, Sean Parker, Ken Howery, Luke Nosek, Bruce Gibney, and Brian Singerman have been founders of or early investors in numerous...
led a seed round of $1.0 million. Other angel investor
Angel investor
An angel investor or angel is an affluent individual who provides capital for a business start-up, usually in exchange for convertible debt or ownership equity...
s in the round included Eric Di Benedetto, Aydin Senkut, Jeff Clavier, and Ron Conway
Ron Conway
Ron Conway is an American angel investor, often described as one of the "super angels". Conway is recognized as a strong networker and is based in Silicon Valley.-Early career:...
, each with a background of venture capital
Venture capital
Venture capital is financial capital provided to early-stage, high-potential, high risk, growth startup companies. The venture capital fund makes money by owning equity in the companies it invests in, which usually have a novel technology or business model in high technology industries, such as...
-backed technology companies.
History, products, and services
Hoffman and Shah met at UC BerkeleyUniversity of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
's Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology. in spring of 2004. The two worked on a project from February 2005 to November 2005. They formed Rapleaf in April 2006.
The company's first product, Rapleaf, is a meta-reputation system
Reputation system
A reputation system computes and publishes reputation scores for a set of objects within a community or domain, based on a collection of opinions that other entities hold about the objects...
that allows users to create reviews and ratings of consumer transactions, which they then contribute to multiple e commerce websites. On May 15, 2006, eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
removed a number of auction listings where the seller had included links to Rapleaf, claiming they were in violation of its terms of use. Business commentators have had mixed opinions about this move.
On January 26, 2007, Rapleaf released Upscoop, a service that allowed users to search for and manage their contacts by email
Email
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
address across multiple social networking sites. In June 2007, Rapleaf was listed among CNET News' Webware 100 Finalists, describing Rapleaf as a service that "lets [users] check on a person's reputation".
In late August 2007, Upscoop began e-mailing entire contact lists that were provided by their users when they log in. This caused some criticism, and the company later provided an apology for doing so.
On July 10, 2008, Rapleaf changed its interface so that it no longer allows users to search people by email addresses. Instead, the service only allows a registered user to view their own reputation and the websites (social and business networking) to which their own email address is registered. There was an immediate negative backlash by companies and individuals who had been using Rapleaf to both manage reputations and investigate the authenticity of people.
In May 2010, Rapleaf was included in Lead411's list of 120 "Hottest Companies in San Francisco".
In October 2010, the Wall Street Journal reported that Rapleaf had transmitted personally identifiable information, including Facebook and MySpace IDs. Rapleaf said it had inadvertently transmitted that info and had ceased the practice.
On October 28, 2010, Facebook banned Rapleaf from scraping data
Data scraping
Data scraping is a technique in which a computer program extracts data from human-readable output coming from another program.-Description:Normally, data transfer between programs is accomplished using data structures suited for automated processing by computers, not people...
on Facebook, and Rapleaf said it would delete the Facebook IDs it had collected.
In June 2011, Rapleaf launched Instant Data, a service tool that allows users to access Rapleaf's database without technical configuration.