With unlimited content in our digital age, getting the word out in a community is a much more difficult task, especially in a metro like Atlanta.
Enter Soofa, the MIT-born startup bringing smart signs to urban neighborhoods in a trend to make smart cities happen. The Cambridge-based company has recently deployed signs in two Atlanta neighborhoods, Little Five Points and the Old Fourth Ward, with a few signs around co-working space FlatironCity. Soofa plans to debut in Inman Park, Ponce City Market, Kirkwood, East Atlanta Village and further downtown, according to Soofa CEO and Co-Founder Sandra Richter.
"Soofa makes cities a lot more fun and a lot more connected so that we come back to a bit of a true neighborhood feel," she said. "In any big city, there's so many things to do. It’s almost an analysis to figure out where to go next, what to do, where are my friends."
Instead of plugging into our phones to find the next best event to hit or restaurant to try, Richter said we can now utilize "the first digital bulletin board of the 21st century." Richter describes the signs like a giant Kindle, that uses little power, runs on renewable energy and can be easily placed within 10 minutes where locals can hang up virtual posters in the public right of way. The platform mimics a Facebook wall or Twitter-esque interface, she said, but is localized by location.
"What that means is, suddenly for the first time, you can share information with your local neighborhood," she said.
After deploying Soofa Signs and smart benches in Massachusetts, Richter said the company has seen their tech used to display everything from job postings to popup events. The signs are not limited to advertisers or businesses owners---anyone from the community can make a listing. Simply logon to talk.soofa.co and click "start a free trial" to share your message with the locals.
"Soofa facilitates real world connectivity and communication in a democratized way," she said.
Current users of the signs include ATL 311---the city's primary source for government information and non-emergency services---and even neighborhood associations. The use of Soofa signs in Atlanta has been the most diverse of any of their rollout locations, Richter said.
"There's lots of creativity in Atlanta for sure," she said.
Founders of Soofa are flying to Atlanta nearly every week to meet with Atlanta City Council members, the Metro Atlanta Chamber, TAG, Georgia Tech and others to start rolling out their signs in different neighborhoods, Richter said.
"Soofa is going to open an Atlanta office ideally in one of the neighborhoods we’re in, but for the moment what we’re busy with is doing community outreach and talking with those who are using our signs regularly," she said. "We have over 30 of the Soofa Signs in various neighborhoods."
The venture-backed company has an interest in finding local investors in Atlanta once the startup begins to enter bigger funding rounds, Richter said. Soofa raised a $2.5 million seed round from Boston venture capital firms Underscore.VC, Accomplice and Pillar last year.
"We have been working with Atlanta for a long time. We love the diversity of the city, the cultural richness," she said. "So for us, it was a very clear decision to take Atlanta as our early adopter city and it fits really well with who we are as a company in terms of cultural and value alignment. We're really happy with how the rollout has been going."
