Behind the quiet of Goodworld's 2017 is a steady focus on gaining traction. D.C.-based social media payments platform has spent the last 12 months heads down, focusing on building strategic corporate partnerships and getting their technology in front of larger markets.
Part of those efforts are now reaping their rewards as the startup announces a new partnership with MasterCard today. Goodworld has been chosen to participate in the credit card company's Start Path Program, a global initiative aimed at supporting businesses across multiple industries scale.
Founded in 2014, Goodworld is a hashtag-to-donation platform. On both Twitter and Facebook, users can make a charitable donation using the hashtag #donate for participating organizations. Currently, over 3,000 organizations use Goodworld.
Through the MasterCard program, Goodworld plans to expand its program to even more industries.
"Our goal is to accelerate our growth by extending our service to merchants, banks and even more charities," co-founder Dale Nirvani Pfeifer told DC Inno in an email. "Goodworld helps to connect them with their next generation customers on social media."
MasterCard's Start Path program offers a six-month virtual program, two week-long immersion programs at different cities and access to MasterCard's network. The company takes zero equity upfront in exchange for participation.
A MasterCard spokesperson said that since the program launched in 2014, Start Path program has evaluated roughly 1,600 startups per year and engaged with more than 150 of them. That's a nearly 10 percent acceptance rate overall.
Start Path is designed for companies that have recently closed a seed or Series A funding round, have a team of five or more, are targeting a market opportunity in commerce and that have an unfair competitive advantage. Alumni include Poland-based ZenCard and Japan-based Moneytree.
To date, Goodworld has raised close to $2.5 million in funding, including $485,000 from the District's Innovation Finance Fund in August 2016. Investors include 1776, Fenway Summer Ventures and Nyca Partners.
"We couldn’t be more excited to be working with MasterCard and their Start Path program to make charitable giving frictionless, social and secure," Pfeifer said in a press release. "Like MasterCard, we believe in doing well by doing good and look forward to connecting with their experts and network to accelerate the democratization of philanthropy."
