Tupalo.com, an Austrian/American Social Yellow pages startup that recently was invested in by Austria’s largest Yellow Pages publisher Herold.at, today announced its launch in the Netherlands, after being active in the German-speaking Countries and the US.
The launch itself entails a fully translated Dutch Version of Tupalo.com and a Hyves Login option, which is Holland’s largest social net, via OAuth. The real importance of this announcment though is their deal with De Telefoongids BV, Netherland’s leading yellow and white pages Service.
Both Herold.at and De Telefoongids BV are in return part of European Directories, which is one of Europe’s largest Yellow Pages publishing houses. This is crucical when it comes to comparing Tupalo.com to other social review sites such as Yelp or Qype. Tupalo.com not only relies on user generated data but also collects professional content from well-established partners such as De Telefoongids BV.
Tupalo.com claims to have 5.000 active reviewers and they are going to “actively enter the dutch market, i.e. with features such as the popular Hyves Login”, says Michael Borras, Co-founder and -CEO of the company.
I’m more curious about what these types of company’s business models are. Yelp for example, has special “advanced” services for business owners, advance placement, top reviews, etc. What is Tupalo’s business model. General social media based local search have a particularly difficult time to find ways to monetize.