Wikipedia
MerchantCircle is a San Ramon, California-based start-up company which helps small businesses network with other local businesses and reach local customers through free marketing tools and social media features. On May 26, 2011, Reply! Inc. announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire MerchantCircle for $60 million in cash and stock. The transaction was completed in Q3 2011. Reply! founder and CEO, Payam Zamani, is the CEO of the combined companies, called Reply! Inc.
Former CEO Ben T. Smith, IV co-founded the company in 2005. MerchantCircle was recognized as "Newcomer of the Year" by AlwaysOn Media in 2007, and was ranked as the fifth-largest local directory site and one of the top 160 sites in the U.S. by a Quantcast study in 2009. The MerchantCircle network signed on its one-millionth member merchant in early 2010, and expanded internationally to Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom.
MerchantCircle conducts a quarterly Merchant Confidence Index survey, the findings of which have been cited in The Financial Times, Forbes, The New York Times and USA Today, among others.