Online community site Judy’s Book said Thursday it received $8 million in a second round of financing to boost product development and expand sales and marketing.

The financing was led by Mobius Venture Capital and included additional funds from Ignition Partners and Ackerley Partners.

Seattle-based Judy’s Book lets users review local businesses and products. Founded in 2004 by Andy Sack and Chris DeVore, the service first launched its beta version in February 2005.

After nine months of operation, it now boasts hundreds of thousands of reviews from tens of thousands of people scattered across the United States. Mr. Sack said the firm was not yet disclosing firm user numbers.

“Judy’s Book is at the forefront of three major trends: consumer-generated content, local search, and word-of-mouth marketing,” said Brad Feld, managing director of Mobius Venture Capital. “We believe the company is ideally positioned to capitalize on consumers’ growing interest in real-life, first-person content to help them make purchase decisions.”

Mr. Sack said the local service market is very hot.

Viral Growth

“We need to continue to move forward on the consumer side, but we also need to accelerate our merchant offering to small- and mid-sized businesses,” Mr. Sack said. “From a sales perspective, Judy’s Book has largely grown by word of mouth, and we expect to continue to put in place innovative services to grow the service virally.”

The company takes its name from Judy Albert, Mr. Sack's mother-in-law, a long-time Seattle resident whose “little green book” of favorite local businesses became a resource for her friends and family. Ms. Albert died in 2003, and Mr. Sack said the startup was a way of memorializing her.

“The green book was a piece of her personality and her memories,” Mr. Sack said. “I like to think that if she were alive today, she’d be incredibly flattered and overwhelmed. I know my wife is blown away by it.”