Many newly launched companies and startups may celebrate their christening in the business world with a party at the hottest bar or restaurant in town. Very few leave the country.
But that is exactly what one of Birmingham’s newest startups did.
Embassy Social, a new platform that aims to help social media creators land and manage paid partnerships, celebrated its official launch Sept. 27 with 13 influencers at Ray Caye, a private island resort in Belize.
The trip generated over 10 million impressions on Instagram in the first 72 hours.
Samford University business school graduate and Embassy Social Founder and CEO Zachary Taunton began working on the app and business idea three years ago. While at Samford, he said he realized there was a need for companies to improve their ability to tap into the social media market and work more efficiently with influencers.
The app is meant to act as an “AirBnB” for influencer-created, sponsored content.
It serves as a marketplace where creators on social media are the vendors or sellers. Influencers can set up a profile and have rates for different types of sponsored content. Brands can sign up and filter through influencers to sign for sponsored content. The app handles everything from first connections to final payments and has a messenger capability between influencers and brands as well.
The company currently has three full-time employees and a few outside developers it works with. The app has secured over 600 creators with a couple hundred active users, according to the company.
The company is based in Birmingham and not a more social media-dominated market because its founders and employees are from the Magic City and are passionate about the local startup scene.
“We really did want to be part of (the startup scene). We love the city, and we wanted to help hopefully continue that economic growth,” said Chief Marketing Officer Jordan Hovater. “With Covid, the advantages of being able to be digital and essentially live wherever you’re wanting to plays to our advantage as well. So, it’s not ... like we would never spend time maybe out in LA or New York or any of those big cities, but it’s been nice to be able to be just as effective from here and then traveling.”
The company traveled to Belize with a handful of big social media creators, who have accounts on the app, to celebrate the launch to show the company in a unique light and represent the social media world, which is built on unique experiences Hovater said.
Influencers on the trip included the star of ABC’s “The Bachelor” season 24 Peter Weber, travel and fashion icon Morgan Ketzner and NFL veteran Clay Harbor.
“The influencer space is traveling and having unique experiences, so we are all about supporting and empowering our creators, and that’s something we wanted to make sure we did on this trip is create a unique experience for them,” Hovater said. “Although the trip does seem unique and somewhat extreme, we were able to do it for a very cost-effective price, despite what it might look like.”
He said the resort stay was free, and the costs to the company were food, drink and airfare.
The company has a bit of runway in terms of capital, so a raise is not in the cards now, he said, but it has had several small bridge rounds to get to launch. The company is looking to get data and customers over the next few months before pursuing any further rounds or investments.
Hovater said the company will continue to reach out to larger markets and is also looking to catch the wave of NCAA athletes that are now operating with the new name, image and likeness regulations.
