Buffalo-based startup Kickfurther raised $5.9 million in a seed-plus round set to accelerate its breakneck pace.
Kickfurther CEO Sean De Clercq moved here in 2019 after winning $500,000 in the 43North competition.
His team in Buffalo now numbers about 15 and is growing quickly, with another 10 employees in Colorado and other locations. DeClercq is in the process of buying a house in the Parkside neighborhood.
Kickfurther targets small to mid-sized businesses in the physical products space, allowing them to raise money via its web-based crowdfunding platform. Individuals fund the production of a specific lot of inventory, and once the inventory is produced and sold, the funders earn a predetermined (consignment) profit from the sale.
As lending tightened during the Covid-19 pandemic, Kickfurther provided an outlet for credible projects. Money raised via the website rose by 70% last year, a pace that has continued into the first few months of 2021.
“We designed this as a tool that every entrepreneur should have in their toolbox,” De Clercq said. “It is designed to be very user-friendly, and it’s free to use until a project is successfully funded on the platform.”
The round was led by billionaire Tom Golisano, also an investor in local startups PostProcess Technologies, and Viridi Parente, through his Grand Oaks Capital firm. It also included checks from local investors Mike Wisler, chief information officer at M&T Bank, ACV Auctions co-founder Jack Greco and a follow-on investment from 43North. Rochester-based Impellent Ventures, led by David Brown, and investors Tim Draper and Bill Tai also contributed.
Golisano is the founder Paychex, the Rochester-based payroll firm. De Clercq said Golisano’s backing is especially meaningful because PayChex's core insight was in focusing on the underserved market of small and mid-sized businesses.
Kickfurther plans to use the investment cash to fuel growth through web-based marketing initiatives, and by adding talent throughout its organization. De Clercq said the company will add five to 10 people each quarter over the next year and a half. The company recently re-upped its lease and expanded its space at 43North’s incubator space at Seneca One Tower.
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De Clercq started Kickfurther based on his own experience as an entrepreneur in the physical products space.
He said the startup spent five years dialing in on product-market fit, user experience and the underlying business model.
“Now it’s time to go big,” he said. “Let’s put the things in place to make Kickfurther a household name and the de facto resource for any business looking to fund physical inventory. That’s what we’re driving toward.”
Kickfurther is the sixth local company to acknowledge a growth-oriented round of funding this year. The others include Tackle.io ($35 million), Torch Labs ($25 million), Circuit Clinical ($7.5 million), SomaDetect ($6 million) and Ellicottville Greens ($1 million).
