Grapevine, a NY-based collaborative giving platform, raised $1.67m in equity financing with an additional $180k in grants, making this total seed round $1.85m.
The round was led by PJC with with participation from Ulu Ventures, WTI, Social Good Fund, Focus Impact Partners, Notation, Ground Squirrel Ventures, and Overton Venture Capital, Alex Wilson & Pat Duffy, (Co-Founders at The Giving Block) and Geng Wang, (CEO and Cofounder, Civic Champs), David Heath (Founder of Bombas), Lynn Taliento (Senior Advisor and Founder of Social Impact Practice, McKinsey & Company), Alex Chung (founder and CEO of GIPHY), Claire Diaz-Ortiz (Founder of Twitter Social Impact Team), Jay B. Love (Co-Founder and Former CEO of Bloomerang and Active Angel Investor), Steve Schlafman, (Founder of Schlaf & Co.), Paul Sawaya (Co-Founder of Elsewhere and Human Interest), and Gaingels.
The company intends to use the funds for the expansion of the team and the product.
Led by Emily Rasmussen, Founder & CEO, Grapevine is dedicated to Giving Circles – where everyday people come together to connect, pool their donations and decide collectively what nonprofits to support on a recurring basis.
Anyone can join or start their own Giving Circle on Grapevine in minutes. Through the platform, people connect through the common goal of giving back, by making it easy for them to find and join one of hundreds of Giving Circles across the country supporting specific communities or broader cause areas. Anyone can set up their group page, invite members and start collecting donations in minutes.
The company is currently supporting over 800 Giving Circles in every state across the country, with 55,000+ total members, resulting in $25M in donations to date. Grapevine has partnered with the likes of AARP on a Create The Good Giving Circle Guide, Idealist, Philanthropy Together, Giving Compass, Charity Navigator, and Global Impact.
Recently, the company launched Grapevine For Companies – a model designed to cultivate company culture in the workplace by creating community and connections. Some current participants include GIPHY and Evertrue.
FinSMEs
08/08/2023