SeeClickFix Gets Seen, Clicked And Funded (By Omidyar Network And O'Reilly)

SeeClickFix, developer of technologies that enable citizens to report and monitor non-emergency issues in their local communities, has raised equity funding from O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures and Omidyar Network, the investment vehicle of eBay founder Pierre Omidyar.

According to the press release, this marks Omidyar Network’s first for-profit investment in its Government Transparency investment area and O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures’ first investment in a Gov 2.0 initiative.

SeeClickFix provides online and mobile platforms that empower citizens, community groups, media and local governments to care for and improve neighborhoods. It was founded in New Haven, Connecticut in 2008, on the belief that citizens who take the time to report even minor issues and see them fixed are likely to become more engaged in their local communities.

SeeClickFix lets citizens report such issues through its website, a range of mobile apps, widgets, and voice mail.

Tim O’Reilly, CEO and founder of O’Reilly Media, a general partner of O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, commented on the financing thusly:

“Now is the time for government to reinvent itself, to take the old idea of government ‘for the people, by the people and of the people’ to a new level.”

Sure enough, O’Reilly Media co-produces the Gov 2.0 Summit together with UBM TechWeb.

Mark P. Jacobsen, managing director at the investment firm, will join the SeeClickFix board of directors. Other terms of the investment were not disclosed.