BILLIONAIRE BACKING CALGARY STARTUP
MOGUL MARK CUBAN INVESTS IN TECHNOLOGY FIRM ETHOR
Mark Cuban is putting his money behind a Calgary-based technology startup he believes has a bright future.
The billionaire owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks and star of the reality TV series Shark Tank has invested an undisclosed amount in eThor, a software company that has developed technology to connect any local business’s point of sale system to a website or mobile app. The result is that customers can easily connect with bricks-and-mortar businesses online, and retailers and restaurants can push product information, menus, and specials directly to consumers’ smartphones.
Cuban, in an e-mailed statement, said one of his companies, Naked Pizza, is an eThor customer. “That relationship and the quality of their technology and service led to my investment,” Cuban said. “I expect big things from eThor.”
Gary Ziegler, founder and CEO of eThor, said having someone of Cuban’s stature attached to his company is “very exciting.
“We’re going to use it to hire more people and expand our partner base and execute our current sales pipeline,” Ziegler said.
The local company got its start as a consulting firm serving the restaurant industry, then converted its technology into a scalable product in 2010.
In 2012, eThor was awarded the title of Most Innovative Technology Startup at the Global Technology Symposium in Silicon Valley. Based in Calgary, eThor also has an office in San Francisco.
Ziegler said the potential market for eThor’s software is huge, since there is still a huge gap between the online world and the world of local commerce.
“About 70 per cent of all transactions are actually researched online before people make them, but 90 per cent of those transactions still happen in the store,” he said.
“There’s a lot of really large, big name companies that could use the technology we have.”