A St. Petersburg startup has secured funding weeks after it received an investment from “Shark Tank’s” Mark Cuban.
Spontivly, which moved to the Tampa Bay region in January, initially made waves with its community-focused SaaS technology and offerings. It soon garnered attention from the Tampa Bay Wave and Embarc Collective incubator programs and was chosen as a 2022 Startup of the Year honoree.
The company first closed a $1.2 million pre-seed round in January, led by LOI Ventures, founded by Ryan Holmes, who co-founded social media marketing giant Hootsuite.
TampaBay.Ventures is now the latest investor to Spontivly, giving an undisclosed amount in the six-figure range. It was part of an oversubscribed bridge round, which counted Mark Cuban, the Dallas Mavericks’ owner and investor on ABC’s hit show “Shark Tank,” and Miami-based Rezilyent Capital as investors.
“We want people to know for us, it’s not just, ‘Mark Cuban backs Spontivly’ — it’s two underrepresented founders, from small-town Canada, raising in the middle of a downturn,” Marissa Huggins, Spontivly co-founder and COO, said in an interview with Tampa Bay Inno. “What we attribute to the fact we double down on effective systems and have grown in harsh climates. So, we learned to grind and hustle.”
Spontivly was initially seeking $500,000 for the bridge round.
“Anthony and Marissa embody TampaBay.Ventures’ ultimate mission of attracting talented founders to the Tampa Bay region,” Andreas Calabrese, the fund’s general partner, said in a statement. “We’re happy to support them in their journey so far and look forward to seeing Spontivly’s continued growth.”
The founders say the company is a “Google Analytics for community.” Organizations can gain insights into their community through Spontivly’s real-time analytics platform, combining the company’s data and necessary tools into one platform.
The latest funding will be used to hire additional staff. The company has 13 full-time employees and aims to hit roughly 65 in the next three years.
It also plans to launch an educational component, which is expected to launch by the end of the month.
“It does go back to our roots; the pandemic hit, and everything changed, and that’s when the team decided to double down for the first time,” Huggins said. “And now we’re hitting these turbulent times, and once more, we’re doubling down on community. We thrived in the pandemic and thrived on going forward because we keep doubling down on the community.”
