Boston's Wigo — the smartphone app helping college students answer "Who's going out tonight?" — said Tuesday it has raised an additional $1.5 million in funding, bringing the company to $2.05 million overall.
Wigo, based out of Paul English's consumer technology startup hatchery Blade, also disclosed the new valuation for the company in connection with the funding round — $14 million.
The $1.5 million round was led by Great Oaks Venture Capital, while other investors in the round include Greylock Partners, GGV Capital, Blade and KEC Ventures.
They join other investors including Tinder founders Sean Rad and Justin Mateen, Vince Wilfork of the New England Patriots; Ben Fischman, founder and former CEO of Rue La La; James van Riemsdyk of the Toronto Maple Leafs; and Kevin Colleran, an early Facebook employee now with General Catalyst Partners.
Wigo has been downloaded at more than 1,400 college campuses in the U.S. so far, according to the company.
Co-founder and CEO Ben Kaplan launched Wigo in early 2014, as an iOS app exclusive to Holy Cross, during his sophomore year. As Lauren Landry wrote previously:
Within three weeks, half of the Worcester, Mass.-based school's iPhone carriers were using it, inspiring Kaplan to enter the app into the college's inaugural "Shark Tank" competition. He received the first-place prize of $100, along with the encouragement necessary to drop out of school and pursue the business opportunity in front of him — which he did alongside fellow co-founder Giuliano Giacaglia, who received his bachelor's and master's degree from MIT.
With WiGo, users can discover who is going out and where. If a user wants to see someone out that night, they can simply "Tap" him or her. The other party then receives a push notification, and can chat with the person who's tapped them within the app.
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The team is currently building out the app school by school. To ensure that students are the only ones using the tool, WiGo has integrated a blocking feature, aptly-dubbed "GTFO," which can be activated if just two users report someone who doesn't attend their school.
