Bookclubs, a tech company that offers a platform for creating and managing book clubs, recently won a $50,000 prize in the Gorham Savings Bank LaunchPad Competition in Portland, Maine.
Bookclubs lists dual headquarters in Richmond and Camden, Maine. Co-founder and CEO Anna Ford is based in Camden, while Nancy Brown, another co-founder, is based in Richmond. It has employees in Central Virginia as well as across the country.
"With our prize money we plan to hire a UI/UX app designer so that we can redesign and relaunch our app early next year, optimized for club growth, activation and conversion to premium," Ford told Mainebiz.
The company secured $2 million in funding earlier this year — led by “a Richmond-based institutional fund” Ford declined to name — to help launch its subscription model. Ford told us in July the subscription fees are based on the types of services and not the number of members in a club. The service will function like Meetup, where the club organizer pays the fee and manages the club. A free service will still be offered.
Ford told Mainebiz her company is on course to reach 1,000 paid clubs by the end of the year, and it hopes to reach 1 million members soon.
Ford told us in July a subscription model is the best way forward for the company, giving it a clearer path to profitability.
“We are still early in our journey to monetization,” Ford said at the time.
