AisleFinder Takes Unique Route in Raising Angel Round
NewMe Accelerator startup, AisleFinder received funding the non-traditional way and announced they have raised an angel round.
Instead of Venture Capital investors, AisleFinder Founder and CEO, Curtiss Pope, decided to pursue opportunities for funding through private individuals that had capital to invest in startups. He sought out groups and individuals such as Stanford doctors, neuro doctors, even dentists.
“We gave the traditional route a shot, but found that it just wasn’t something VCs were looking to invest in, says Pope. A lot of the responses we received were “I want to see where you are in 6-12 months.”
Pope was fine with that feedback. AisleFinder was making money from their other products such as analytics and API , but eventually he knew that if he wanted to accomplish things in a short amount of time, they would need some sort of small round of capital.
More startups are opting to take this route as it can sometimes be the best way. AisleFinder’s first funding came from friends and family, this round was just an organic extension of where they started.
Even with the success of the recent funding received, Pope plans to work like he doesn’t have it. He says the company wants to frantically and aggressively work to improve and also try two new projects that are in the works. Right now, AisleFinder has a major canned goods company talking to them about piloting their analytics platform.
“Private investors are an untapped resource, says Pope. I encourage new companies to break the rules and don’t worry about how Facebook, or Google did it. Do whatever works!”
AisleFinder is an online and mobile platform that gives customers the aisle numbers of where to find groceries in the supermarket, described as the Google Maps for supermarkets.
