• Celly

  Participated · Seed · Feb 2013

  Celly is a Portland, Oregon–based decentralized social networking platform that enables people and organizations to create “emergent social networks” accessible from any mobile device. The platform lets users start private “cells” that members can join from any device and is used by schools, governments, communities, teams, political and other movements. Launched last fall, people have created more than 20,000 cells. The company has released an iPhone application and offers an Android app that can be used outside the U.S. Celly is led by CEO Russell Okamoto and CTO Greg Passmore and is expanding its team. The company raised $1.4M in funding.

• Chirpify

  Led · Seed · Feb 2012

  Chirpify operates a social commerce and payments platform that lets businesses and consumers buy, sell, donate, fundraise and pay in-stream on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram feeds. The company is led by Chris Teso and is based in Portland, Oregon. In the announced financing it raised $4M from a group of strategic and individual backers. Participating investors include Saturn Partners, Provenance Ventures, Idan Ravin, David Cohen, Chris Paul, Dwight Howard, Kevin Durant, Andy Liu, Geoff Entress, Rudy Gadre and HootSuite CEO Ryan Holmes. Chirpify intends to use the capital to expand the reach of its technology beyond social media feeds and move into live event and TV conversions, focusing on sports, music and media. Related notes list prior financings of $2M in March 2013 and $1.3M in April 2012. Chirpify is a Portland, Oregon–based social commerce and payments company that enables businesses and consumers to buy, sell, pay and fundraise in-stream on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Led by CEO Chris Teso, the platform processes in-stream transactions via replies or comments and is used by brands and entertainers including Adidas, Taco Bell, Puma, the Portland Trailblazers, Green Day, Keith Richards, Lil Wayne and Snoop Dogg. On March 24, 2013 the company announced a $2M initial close of a Series A round backed by Voyager Capital. Chirpify said it plans to use the new funding to grow its sales and marketing team and to expand its in-stream payments across the social web. The company had previously raised $1.3M in 2012. Chirpify's core product is a Twitter-integrated commerce platform that lets merchants upload listings and consumers purchase by replying to tweets, with payments processed via PayPal and delivery handled over direct message. The company rebranded from SellSimp.ly in February and gained traction after an SXSW "Tweet-a-Beer" promotion that drove two new user signups per second for several weeks. Chirpify offers integration with existing eCommerce storefronts like Magento and is used by brands such as HP and Nestle, as well as musicians for direct sales and ticketing. The platform charges a 4% commission on each transaction and offers an enterprise plan—generally starting around $500/month—that removes the commission and adds integrations, priority support, and co-branding. Currently PayPal is the sole payment option, though the team plans to add additional payment solutions and expand digital content offerings (eBooks were specifically mentioned). The company is focused on scaling and will use new capital to ramp up hiring. Chirpify (formerly Sell Simp.ly) provides a Twitter-native commerce layer that turns Tweets into transactions, supporting direct and peer-to-peer payments, donations, and retail sales. The platform integrates with PayPal to process payments and offers deep integration with existing e-commerce systems such as Magento for fulfillment and listing management. Merchants can list items via a “List on Twitter” button in their e-commerce dashboard and receive inbound sales information by email, back-end system updates, or Twitter DMs. The product is device-agnostic and was reworked for scalability after founder Chris Teso identified limitations in the original Sell Simp.ly architecture and UX. Chirpify relaunched with a new brand, additional functionality for brands, and scalability improvements following participation in an accelerator. The company plans to add features like flash sales and time-limited deals and says it is in talks with several larger brands about partnerships.

No current team members are available.