Alexandria-based mobile app platform Pinxter has closed a $1 million seed round led by noted local VC Cal Simmons. Pinxter began with a mobile social media app to share feedback on fashion, but has moved beyond that into a white-label app architect for a growing list of consumer brands and companies.
"We see it as an innovative digital platform," Pinxter CEO Sergei Dubograev told DC Inno in an interview. "Pinxter as an app was sort of our beta test and it went very well. Now we know what works and we can do that extremely quickly for a brand."
The transition started not long after Pinxter did. One of the startup's first client was Chevy Chase-based wedding planning company WeddingWire, for which Pinxter created WedStyle, an app built on the Pinxter platform but branded and with content by WeddingWire. Now the app is being applied to fashion, food and other brands, and even social media stars with large, loyal followings but no tech training or team to build their own branded app.
"It's a lot more than just a gimmick,"said Pinxter CMO Brandon Miller. "Consumers get impatient with that, they want to share ideas and thoughts with each other and that social aspect is a big part of our apps."
"It's a lot more than just a gimmick."
The usefulness of the platform extends even to the realm of real estate. Pinxter built an app to help people wanting to refer friends to real estate agents and lettings professionals in the industry refer each other to potential clients called WhoHub (originally known as Piggy but since understandably rebranded). There are another 20 or 30 brands that are in discussion with Pinxter for apps as well.
"We really just have two criteria, some sort of content and some sort of loyal fan base," Dubograev said.
Part of Pinxter's approach that stand out is how it works more often in a partnership with clients than strictly as a contractor to build an app. Pinxter builds the app cheaply then gets a percentage of revenue if the app is successful. Some of the larger companies are hesitant about that, but overall it's been a draw for new clients, Miller said.
"We don't want to build the app and part ways," Miller said. "A lot of companies will build the software and run away but what we do is the opposite. We have skin in the game with every single one of our partners. We tell them that we'll stay in the game as long as you stay in the game."
"They've been very intrigued by our partnership model," Dubograev said. "And they love that we can build the app for them in a few weeks.
Simmons, who Dubograev called a "mega-angel," was one of about 10 investors in the seed round, which more than doubles the $750,000 the company had already raised. Pinxter is also looking to possibly add a few more strategic investors for another couple of hundred thousand dollars, Dubograev said, but that's still being decided.
"We can barely keep up with the demand as it is," Dubograev said. "People have started realizing that tech can't be separated from the marketing world, and that's why what we offer adds so much value to a brand."
