relaborateRelaborate has raised more than $500,000 in a first round of funding, money that the Seattle startup will use to continue to developing what it dubs a “smart content marketing engine” for companies.

As part of the round, some of the company’s initial users have become angel investors.

relab1“We help solve problems businesses face by providing an end-to-end hub for managing content production and publishing, and by collecting ideas and expertise across businesses in a non-intrusive manner,” explains CEO Colin Lamont, a former marketing executive at RealNetworks, GotVoice and X10.

Lamont says that Relaborate uses the journalistic Q&A process “to unlock knowledge and insights of coworkers.” It also uses semantic search to help identify trending topics and reference material, as employees look for topics to write about. That includes the ability to peruse an image gallery that authors can use to accentuate their articles.

The product is currently being used by agencies like Edelman; large software companies like Box; real estate firms like Pillar Properties; and assisted living facilities like Merrill Gardens.

“Almost all companies have a need to create and manage quality content online … helping to drive traffic and leads,” says Lamont.

He adds:

“Social media channels are great for connecting to audiences, but are much more effective at driving traffic, leads, and revenue when used in concert with long-form anchor content that resides on your website.”

The company, which was founded last year, has six employees from companies such as RealNetworks, Microsoft and The Seattle Times.

More on the company here.

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