Former NBA Commissioner David Stern is best known in Charlotte for his key role in helping push through a downtown arena and working through the George Shinn debacle that led to the loss of the Hornets to New Orleans.
Now, Stern has a different view of the Queen City: He’s an investor in MapAnything, a Charlotte startup that just raised $33.1 million. Started in 2009, the company has 148 employees in Charlotte, Atlanta and London and more than 1,400 customers that each spend at least $30 a month. MapAnything’s customers access the software through the Salesforce platform.
The software helps drive internet traffic to businesses in a manner similar to Google Maps, Waze and Yelp, CEO John Stewart said in a release.
Columbus Nova led this round of funding: They are a New York-based investment-management firm controlled by Russia’s Renova Group, which is owned by Viktor Vekselberg, who Forbes magazine called Russia’s fourth richest person in 2015. Renova is embroiled in various criminal cases involving bribery allegations.
Columbus Nova has offices in New York, Los Angeles and Charlotte.
Other investors in the latest round include ServiceNow Ventures, Harbert Venture Partners and Salesforce Ventures. Overall, the company has raised $40.4 million, according to its website.
Stewart has worked for software companies since 1996 and has been CEO of MapAnything since 2009. The company’s offices are in south Charlotte near the Tyvola Road and Interstate 77 intersection.
