"Other investors include Josh Kopelman, founder of Half.com Inc. and a partner at venture capital firm First Round Capital; Julie Constantin, co-founder of Constantin Partners; Jamie Crouthamel, founder and former CEO of Performics Inc.; David Reibstein, co-founder and a board member of BizRate.com; and Eric Simone, founder of Compete Inc., an Internet consulting firm bought in 2000 by Austin-based Perficient Inc.

Bazaarvoice remains in "stealth" mode, but founder and CEO Brett hurt says the company competes in an emerging sector known as "word-of-mouth marketing." Hurt, a founder of online-analysis software provider Coremetrics Inc., says Bazaarvoice will give companies the power to tap one of the oldest forms of marketing -- telling friends and family what they like and don't like."