Judah Longgrear acknowledges the funding path for his company, Nickelytics, wasn’t exactly traditional.
The Tampa-based marketing tech company closed a nearly $400,000 seed round, comprised mainly of investors from the crowdfunding platform Republic. There was also participation from Techstars, which Nickelytics participated in in spring 2020, and some angel investors.
But the company has recently closed its first venture capital funding — a six-figure round from California-based BDev Ventures. However, it’s coupled with another fundraising round on Republic.
“BDev saw the value Republic was bringing, and we saw the value to do both,” Longgrear said in an interview with Tampa Bay Inno. “They’re solving different problems in different ways. You can get higher traction, and it’s been a good relationship.”
This time, it’s seeking $535,000 on the site. Republic was founded by previous executives at AngelList, which is a hub that showcases startup funding and jobs.
“We got a lot of requests from our network asking to be part of the growth,” Longgrear said. “We built the platform to scale, and there was a lot of user demand off of it, and we’re able to show what we’re doing. We’re excited because it gives us a chance to connect with the community and give them an incentive that some of the VCs are seeing.”
Going the crowdfunding route even a year ago would’ve raised institutional investors’ eyebrows, Longgrear said. But as more startups turn toward the community-centric funding approach, the buy-in has become stronger.
“It’s a little bit of a contrarian approach,” he said. “But if you look at Republic and the crowdfunding space, at first it really was looked upon as not very VC friendly and a secondary type of approach. But as things have shifted, there’s been a lot more acceptance.”
Nickelytics has eight employees, including Shama Keskar, its relatively new co-founder with ties with Google and Amazon. It plans to add a few more higher-level executives in the coming months as it continues its growth trajectory.
While the latest funding from BDev Ventures is a win, Longgrear added perhaps the more significant win is the company’s usage of its proprietary growth platform, which puts Nickelytics’ name in front of thousands of potential clients.
“We’re particular who we take money from, but this adds so much strategic value,” he said.
The Republic funding, on the flip side, will go toward building Nickelytics’ brand Rolodex and eventually serve as a springboard for a Series A round for an undisclosed amount.
In the interim, the company is growing its profitability — hitting a $10 million valuation and closing its first profitable quarter, according to Longgrear.
“We’ve done non-traditional funding — more than a lot of companies — and been focused on getting to profitable,” he said. “We’re taking capital as we need it.”
