Drop Messages Founder Zachary DeWitt dropped a hint in June that the startup would soon be closing some "strategic and financial partnerships." The latter promise came to fruition Tuesday, when the location-based messaging app announced it raised a $1.25 million Series A round, led by Atlas Venture and Spark Capital.
Timothy Draper, founding partner of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, also invested in the company, alongside other angels. With the newfound financing, the team was able to introduce a new version of the app, available for free in the App Store, and will start expanding the business.
Drop Messages allows users to "drop" a message for their friends at a specific location. When recipients are in the vicinity of the message, a notification pops up, reading, say, "Good luck on your exam," or, "Don't forget to take out the trash."
The app was started by DeWitt and Eric Noeth. The two met in San Francisco while working at a private equity firm. When DeWitt enrolled in Harvard Business School, however, Noeth followed, and the two went on to build the app that won the inaugural Boston TechCrunch Pitch-off.
DeWitt has since deferred from Harvard Business School to focus on Drop Messages full-time and the team has headed back to San Francisco. The investment from area Atlas and Spark Capital, though, proves the startup will be keeping its Boston ties.
“We haven’t even scratched the surface of what location-based technology can do, and Drop Messages is at the forefront of this movement,” said Atlas Venture Partner Jeff Fagnan in a statement. “The next generation of apps for smartphones and wearable devices is going to use location-based data to enrich the world around you, not take your attention away from it.”
The app is in more than 50 countries and every single state, according to Noeth, who previously stated, "The theme is really making the whole world local."
And with a new $1.25 million in the bank, Drop Messages is on its way to achieving just that.
