When business customers look for a product, the first step is usually to check out the internet. Yet companies often do not know how to capitalize on this.

Well, Eloqua has a suite off on-demand offerings to help things out. And to help boost things, the company raised $23 million in a venture round. Investors include Bessemer Venture Partners, JMI Equity and Bay Partners.

"Basically, we help companies have a digital dialogue with customers," said Joe Payne, CEO of Eloqua, in a BloggingStocks interview. "We do this through white papers, microsites, tracking and so on."

Payne thinks that companies are too quick to act on potential leads. "Before handing over a possible customer to a sales person, there needs to be some qualification. If not, there can be lots of wasted time."

Eloqua sells its service on a subscription basis. What's more, its customers include biggies like Sybase (NYSE: SY), Seagate (NYSE: STX), Nokia (NYSE: NOK), MySQL, and Nuance (NASDAQ: NUAN).

And, if you want to check out other recent venture fundings, click here.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

Eloqua elevates things with $23 million in funding originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 17 Oct 2007 14:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.