An Atlanta-based website builder founded by a team of alumni from Georgia's top colleges and universities has raised $3 million, according to a May 2 announcement.
Makeswift CEO Alan Pledger says the funding will help the company achieve profitability next year. Since the constriction of venture capital in the last year, investors have reprioritized profitability when considering companies.
Early-stage venture capital firm Active Capital led the round. Active also led Makeswift's $1.5 million round in 2019. Uncommon Capital and Atlanta-based Silicon Road Ventures also participated, according to the announcement. Makeswift also lists Atlanta media giant Cox Enterprises as an investor/advisor on its website.
Makeswift lets companies build customized websites on the Next.js development framework, which some say is faster and more scalable than a Wordpress site. Wordpress, a prolific content management system, is Makeswift's major competitor.
With the capital infusion, Makeswift plans to continue to improve its product, Pledger said in a statement. The startup has seven employees and no specific hiring plans, according to a spokesperson.
The funding comes as venture capital activity remains down in the first quarter of 2023, according to PitchBook.
Early-stage funding rounds declined to 34% of the total deals in the first quarter. Georgia startups raised $550.4 million in the first quarter across 63 deals. That's slightly higher than the previous two quarters, $409.2 million and $419.9 million respectively. But it still doesn't compare to the flurry of funding throughout 2021 and early 2022, when each quarter hovered around $1 billion for Georgia startups.
The Makeswift platform is used by startups, such as San Francisco-based advertising platform Monetizr and Atlanta health care startup Grassroots Labs, and publicly traded technology companies, according to its website and the announcement.
Pledger and chief technology officer Miguel Oller are both Georgia Tech graduates. Chief operating officer Lindsay Trinkle attended Georgia State University and chief product officer Andrew Reifman attended the University of Georgia, according to their LinkedIns. The startup was founded in the state-sponsored startup incubator Advanced Technology Development Center. Makeswift has an office at the Silhouette Midtown at 1447 Peachtree St.
