A Birmingham nonprofit-focused startup made itself known at South by Southwest, or SXSW, in Austin, Texas.
Fundrage, founded by Maria Underwood, with assistance from the Voltage program at Innovation Depot, is a Google Chrome extension in its current form that aims to galvanize people when they read the news. Underwood, a veteran in the nonprofit space, said Fundrage suggests nonprofit sites to readers based on the subject matter of the content they are consuming.
Since launching in November of 2021, the company has seen a user increase on the extension, and the company will be soon pursuing a beta test for an app toward the end of April. Underwood is the company's sole employee, but she has two contractors working on the extension and a local company working to develop the app.
Underwood was also invited to SXSW to a pitch competition, led by global accelerator company GAN, in which she ended up the victor. Underwood said that Velocity Accelerator is a member of the network and was looking for proposals nationwide to participate in the competition. She was selected at the last minute and decided to attend and was able to connect with investors and be introduced to a wider audience.
“It's a great marketing opportunity for Fundrage, both on our social media for download with the extension and to have conversations with people in the tech world — investors, marketers, people who are looking for the next big thing and social impact," she said of the Texas trip. "I (planned) to go to as many events as possible, talk to everyone who will listen to me and really maximize the time just around networking and soaking in all the incredible tech brains that I hoped to meet.”
While Underwood is looking to pursue funding opportunities for the business in the next few months, she is also looking to make greater improvements to Fundrage, pushing heavily into app development and listening to customer feedback.
