LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Community, the innovative text messaging platform that powers direct relationships and one-on-one conversations at scale, has secured an additional $40MM investment from Salesforce Ventures. This new round of financing brings the total amount raised, since launching in July 2019, to nearly $90MM from the likes of Twilio, Sound Ventures, Live Nation, Sony Innovation Fund, and others.
Since its launch in 2019, Community saw more than 3 billion text messages exchanged between its Leaders (people, businesses and brands with a 10-digit Community number) and their Members (the consumers who choose to text with Leaders on Community). Community has welcomed more than 26 million Members onto the platform, who can directly engage with politicians, musicians, pop culture icons, streetwear designers, athletes, creators, small business owners, media/entertainments companies and brands like: PEOPLE, Deepak Chopra, MadHappy, We’re Not Really Strangers, Jennifer Lopez, Bobby Hundreds, Tom Brady, UNWRP, Ashton Kutcher, The Shade Room, WW (formerly Weight Watchers), Kerry Washington, SluttyVegan, Pittsburgh Penguins and more.
“Our business model and purpose are built on keeping people directly and instantly connected to the conversations that they want to be part of at scale,” said founder and CEO of Community Matt Peltier. “This additional investment from Salesforce Ventures will provide us with the resources and opportunities to continue our purpose, while providing valuable marketing and communications avenues for our Leaders through the simplicity of text messaging, without getting lost in social algorithms, unlawful sharing of data, privacy issues, ads or short code spams.”
“Nothing is more important than creating and cultivating a community around your brand,” said Sarah Franklin, President and CMO, Salesforce. "Community lives at the intersection of trust, technology and culture, and is a powerful example of how organizations of any size can foster human connection to build meaningful relationships and drive growth.”
The text messaging platform has seen clickthrough rates of 60% when Leaders send text messages and open rates of 95%. These stats suggest a new trend creating connections at scale in a more personalized and direct manner that result in action, sales, revenue growth and impact; without slowing down the exchange of communication due to algorithms or the impersonal nature of shortcode texts.
Veteran talent executive, investor and entrepreneur Guy Oseary (co-founder of Community) has been instrumental in the company's growth, and has worked closely with the team to onboard the most notable names and brands in music and entertainment onto Community.
“Community has set the industry standard for text message marketing,” said Oseary. “Matt’s vision for the platform solves a critical issue for brands, public figures, small businesses and anyone who is seeking to speak directly with their audience - knowing where they are and what’s most important to them - while respecting their data and privacy.”
Community is headquartered in Santa Monica and is currently operating as a fully-remote organization due to COVID-19. The company has more than 130 employees located across the U.S. and EMEA.
About Community
Community powers direct relationships and one-on-one conversations between Leaders and their Members through text messaging at scale. Launched in 2019 and headquartered in Santa Monica, Calif., Community is breaking new ground in trusted marketing and communications channels by connecting Leaders--global pop culture stars, local community organizers, small business owners and brands--to their Members to drive conversations that convert into actions, sales, revenue and more. Join us at www.community.com TEXT US: (323) 310-2202