Bolstered by a pandemic that pushed its key customers online, Raleigh-based MemberHub has raised nearly $3.3 million in equity – attracting growth capital from a slew of investors, including the newly-minted Tweener Fund.
MemberHub CEO Will Bowen credits the raise to the firm’s “really great 18 months.”
“We’ve seen a tremendous amount of growth in the business,” Bowen said. And it’s expecting more, as the 22-person firm is already hiring – specifically in areas such as customer success, sales and engineering.
Bowen said the company’s mission is the key to attracting talent over competing employers – many of whom are going after hires with the same skill sets.
“We have a great social purpose,” Bowen said, adding that features such as unlimited paid time off and employee equity help the firm differentiate. “We think that we have a nice balance between work-life balance, benefits and compensation and social purpose.”
MemberHub's technology helps community-based nonprofits “do more with less,” Bowen said. The company started offering its software for free in 2018, allowing nonprofits such as school PTAs to access digital solutions such as online fundraising.
“Nonprofits, especially community nonprofits like PTAs, booster clubs … they’re not sophisticated software buyers,” he said. “We give them email and text communication capabilities … and we built a lot of technology around e-commerce, helping them raise money online.”
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When the pandemic took companies throughout the globe virtual, the need for a nonprofit to be able to raise cash digitally became even more critical – and MemberHub was able to deliver, Bowen said, offering services such as online auctions and raffles.
Bowen said the company has worked with 13,000 nonprofits in 50 states. MemberHub does not charge the nonprofits for its services. Instead, it takes a small transaction fee. And it's working on a cashback app – “kind of like Honey meets Amazon Smile” - that would allow people shopping at more than 40,000 merchants to support more than 1 million charities. If all goes well, the app could launch in April.
New investors include Dennis Daugherty and Mitch Mumma of Intersouth Partners. They also include the new Tweener fund, founded by serial entrepreneur Scot Wingo, which confirmed this week it has made four investments in local firms. In addition to MemberHub, the list includes Vertroos Health, Bristles Inc. and a mystery company that Wingo said did not wish to be identified.
Of MemberHub, Wingo said its “tremendous” growth made for a compelling story. Additionally, Wingo was attracted to the idea of “taking a very antiquated analog industry (education/PTAs) and making them digital.”
“The side ‘win’ at MemberHub is you have millions of motivated stakeholders on the platform – that’s gold dust in my e-commerce experience where everyone struggles to [get] above the noise and acquire engaged customers,” Wingo said.
