Yac offers an asynchronous voice-messaging service designed for remote offices, positioning voice notes as a hands-free replacement for meetings. The product charges per seat, in the same manner as Slack, and had a bit over 5,000 users at the time Slack invested. The company was spun out of the digital agency SoFriendly and was developed as a pitch for Product Hunt’s Maker Festival, where it won the startup competition. Yac was co-founded by Justin Mitchell, Hunter McKinley and Jordan Walker. Early attention attracted interest from Boost VC and its founder Adam Draper. Investors and supporters have framed the company around a vision of asynchronous, in-ear, hands-free meetings. Yac is a Florida-based digital voice messaging service that launched last year and officially launched in March after winning Product Hunt’s Maker Festival startup competition. Developed by digital agency SoFriendly, its product offers one-to-many voice messaging, a desktop app, and Slack integration. The company charges per seat and reported 900 teams signed up in its first week; it now has a bit over 5,000 users. Yac attracted early attention from Boost VC and Adam Draper during its spinout and product competition. It raised a $500,000 investment from the Slack Fund and conducted much of Slack’s due diligence through voice messages sent via the app. Yac will use the funds to integrate more closely with Slack, automatically embedding some Yac features in Slack and enabling a Yac audio button in place of Slack’s call button. Yac builds an asynchronous voicemail-style communication tool aimed at teams raised on Slack and Zoom, using short audio/video messages and a Snap-like interface. The product ships a freemium model: unlimited messaging on the free tier (with a retention cap) and paid plans with no retention limit, transcription, and deeper integrations. Paid plans are priced at $8 per user and the company was launching its first paid plans at the time of the article. Yac reports about 4,500 messages a month, roughly 250 daily active users, and has six full-time employees. The company originated inside the digital design agency SoFriendly and was initially developed for Product Hunt’s Maker Festival. Early support and funding involved Boost VC, Betaworks, and Active Capital.

Total raised

$10M

Funding rounds

3

Latest round

Series A

Latest activity

Jan 2021