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Bessemer Venture Partners said Friday it has backed Yelp.com, a service that combines social networking and online reviews, with a first round of funding in the range of $3 million to $8 million.

Based in San Francisco, Yelp features reviews that compile personal recommendations for things like restaurants, bars, spas, and even moving services. It also facilitates social networking between reviewers.

Yelp

Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppleman said he plans to use the funds to boost the site’s user base and work on marketing efforts in San Francisco and other cities.

San Francisco

Yelp is one of three companies incubated by Max Levchin, co-founder of electronic payments service PayPal.

Mr. Stoppelman, 28, left HarvardBusinessSchool to co-found Yelp with Russel Simmons last October. In September, the site managed to attract 100,000 unique visitors from the San Francisco area.

San Francisco

Everybody’s a Critic

What distinguishes Yelp from its competitors in the crowded social-networking space is the addition of user-generated reviews that have been the service’s focus on building its San Francisco community, according to Mr. Stoppelman.

San Francisco

“There are obvious competitors like Judy’s Book and Insider Pages, so the way it breaks down is those are less local,” he said. “They’re 100 miles wide and one millimeter deep. We’re more focused on building our core in San Francisco, and I think we’ve proven we can build a vibrant online community here in preparation for going national and hand-cultivating other markets.”

Insider Pages

By “hand-cultivating,” he really means getting Yelp’s friends, and friends of friends, to develop a street-level marketing campaign. That effort is led by Nish Nadaraja, the company’s marketing director, who initially got his social network to write reviews and then tell their friends about them. There are also trendy parties at SF hotspots to maintain the buzz level.

That viral marketing approach has enthused Jeremy Levine, a principal at Bessemer.

Bessemer“We believe that the interactive, viral nature of Yelp’s offering is a terrific community builder,” he said. “After studying the space closely, we at Bessemer are excited by the unmatched loyalty of the Yelp user base and by the strength and vision of the management team.”