Founder GiGi McDowell said she began planning weddings when she was just five years old. And with her startup Fêtefully, she's looking to make planning weddings and events of all kinds easier for everyone.
With eyes on fully launching its wedding and event planning marketplace at the beginning of next year, the company has landed a $1.3 million seed round to hire and help build out the platform for its public debut.
"We are automating every single step of the wedding and event planning process, all the way from being engaged and getting your ideas to getting you down the aisle," McDowell said.
The latest round was led by Los Angeles VC firm Slauson & Co. with Florida investor Gurtin Ventures and brought Fêtefully's total to about $1.6 million. The announcement comes on the heels of Fêtefully landing $100,000 in non-dilutive funding, along with $220,000 in support tools and services from Google for Startups Black Founders Fund.
Fêtefully is currently part of the Google for Startups Accelerator for Black Founders program and is a graduate of the Techstars Austin 2021 accelerator program.
In addition to boosting product development while it beta tests ahead of a February launch date, the new funding will nearly aid Fêtefully's plans to double its six-person team in the coming months. McDowell said the company is looking to grow its engineering team, as well as its marketing and planning experience teams, which help source local vendors in markets Fêtefully serves. Currently, the company is serving the Dallas, Austin, Houston and Nashville markets.
McDowell started planning weddings at an early age, launching her first business at the age of 13. When she started Fêtefully in 2016, she said the company was initially focused on using the insights she'd learned over the years to help share a streamlined planning process with users. The company's platform helps match users' personalities and budgets to local vendors to create event plans. McDowell said the company has seen increasing use as people look for virtual ways to plan gatherings, adding that the platform handles data on when vendors have availabilities.
"I realized that technology can help me scale even further," McDowell said. "I just want to make sure that everybody gets to have that special day, not just people who can't afford (hiring a wedding planner)."
Fêtefully is currently focused on wedding planning, but as its customers return to the platform to plan things like parties, showers, and dates, McDowell said the company is looking to add features to help users plan various events. As it continues to grow, McDowell said it also has plans to expand the markets that it serves, adding that the company is working with planners in around 30 cities, including places in Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.
"A huge goal of mine is to not only help the planners but also help an industry where there are so many small businesses within the space," McDowell said. "We want to help them grow their businesses. When they have free days, we can send them business… so that way we can grow small businesses throughout the country that live in the wedding industry."
