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VentureApp wants to link startups, services

Accomplice backing helps launch a ‘concierge-style’ approach

The founders of two marketing and media startups, DailyBreak and Streetwise Media, have banded together on a project called VentureApp with a simple mission in mind: Help streamline the process of starting a company.

VentureApp’s team includes Boris Revsin and Jared Stenquist, the founders of DailyBreak, and Chase Garbarino, Kevin McCarthy, and Greg Gomer, the founders of Streetwise Media, which runs BostInno and a network of websites in other cities.

The founders of VentureApp aren’t yet talking in detail about their plans, but Garbarino describes it as a “concierge”-style service that will help entrepreneurs tackle some of the mundane tasks involved in setting up and growing a business.

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A job posting said the project is “building both mobile and Web applications that provide top startups with on-demand support.”

Several people familiar with the concept say VentureApp is focused on helping young companies simplify the process of finding and working with providers of professional services like insurance, accounting, and human resources. VentureApp will also help organize contracts and other paperwork in digital form. Both providers and entrepreneurs must apply and be screened to get access to the system.

“BostInno started as a side project and, as many people know, I didn’t have any background in journalism,” Garbarino said. “I was always pretty transparent about the fact that I was trying to have a positive impact on the tech community. We think VentureApp is the next evolution of a platform that we think can help further innovation, not just in Boston, but eventually beyond Boston.”

VentureApp has “six-plus” employees, according to job listings. The company has raised an initial round of roughly $1.5 million from several angel investors and from Accomplice, the venture capital firm in Cambridge that was spun off from Atlas Venture. VentureApp is operating out of Accomplice’s East Cambridge office.

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Garbarino said that he, Gomer, and McCarthy plan to stay involved with Streetwise Media as advisers and board members, but that the three are “all fully on VentureApp” now.

Streetwise was acquired in 2012 by American City Business Journals, a unit of Advance Publications. DailyBreak, founded on the campus of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, created games and challenges that helped advertisers build awareness among consumers. It was acquired last year by Connelly Partners, a Boston marketing agency. The price was not disclosed on either deal.


Scott Kirsner can be reached
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