Sōsh aggregates and structures large amounts of offline data about things to do, weather, neighborhoods and social preferences to generate personalized local recommendations. Led by co-founder and CEO Rishi Mandal, the product matches that data against a user’s interests, current location and friends’ preferences. The company raised $10.1m in a Series B financing to support growth. In conjunction with the financing, Khosla’s Keith Rabois joined Sōsh’s board of directors. Sōsh plans to use the funds to expand to additional cities (it has just launched Sōsh NYC), advance its product roadmap and introduce a marketplace for local activities. The company is hiring. Sōsh is a personal concierge and offline activity recommendation app that curates events, activities, and services rather than focusing solely on venues. It combines algorithmic data analysis with human curation to surface roughly the top 15% of relevant, high-quality options and to filter low-quality events. The app debuted in July of last year and initially focused on San Francisco; engagement metrics include users spending an average of 25 minutes per month, 2 million recommendations to date, and a 30% email open rate, with new users typically connected to nine friends. Sōsh plans to use its new funding to expand to additional cities with a carefully staged rollout likely beginning in New York City. The company has updated the app for improved speed and functionality and is focused on hiring engineers, product people, and designers to support growth. Founder and CEO Rishi Mandal emphasizes city-specific knowledge and curated selection as the company’s differentiators in a crowded recommendation space.

Total raised

$14M

Funding rounds

2

Latest round

Series B

Latest activity

Aug 2013