Durham Hologram Startup Lands NC Funds, But Not From the Usual Suspects

 

But holograms aren’t just in Disney movies. PRSONAS, a self-service hologram company out of Durham, just landed $525,000 from investors after winning major Fortune 500 companies like Microsoft and Procter & Gamble as customers. 

 

Via life-size computer-generated men and women powered by artificial intelligence, PRSONAS helps companies deliver marketing messages or customer support without requiring actual human interaction. PRSONAS’ holograms also speak multiple languages and collect information like conversion rates and engagement duration from the people they interact with in a store or trade show booth or at a reception or concierge desk. 

 

The Durham startup’s ability to land more than 40 major corporate customers in two years while bootstrapping the business won it a lineup of regional investors. But there is more to the story. 

 

The PRSONAS syndicate shows that our startup community’s mission of graduating successful entrepreneurs into angel investing is working. 

 

“There’s people who exited that are reinvesting in the community,” says PRSONAS CEO and co-founder David Rose. “So when we exit, hopefully I can do the same thing.” 

 

Some of Rose’s local investors include Robbie Allen, who sold his startup Automated Insights in 2015, serial entrepreneur Brian Handly, now of Reveal Mobile, and Drew Adams, who sold Contactology in 2014.

 

Rose also secured more than half of the company’s funding from North Carolina funds outside the Triangle. There’s $94K from the Charlotte Angel Fund and dollars from Inception Micro Angel Funds (IMAF) like IMAF Coastal Plains out of Rocky Mount and two other IMAF funds in Greenville and Fayetteville. 

 

“I know everyone is talking about needing capital,” says Rose. “I had no idea these guys even existed.” 

 

Rose works out of the American Underground. He’s no stranger to the Triangle startup scene and says there’s funding to be found outside of the region, but it may not be in plain sight. Many connections were made when he competed in the Charlotte Venture Challenge in 2014. 

 

One relationship that’s grown since that time is with Greg Brown, administrator of the Charlotte Angel Fund. In February, he spoke with Rose on recommendation of IMAF Coastal Plains’ administrator. PRSONAS was invited to pitch at CAF’s monthly meeting that same month and the angel fund did its due diligence in March. By April 30, CAF’s members approved the investment. This is CAF’s sixth investment since its formation in December 2013. 

 

Here’s why CAF invested in PRSONAS, according to Brown:

 

The cofounding team—Rose and Chuck Rinker— know their product, but they can also sell it. They are a great balance of commercial and technical skills, Brown says.

• Rose was on the founding team of $1B ADP TotalSource Unit. He also held six Fortune 500 leadership roles and was involved in a handful of both venture-backed and self-funded startups. But Rose says his background is boring compared to his partner’s. 
• Rinker, the hologram technology’s inventor, previously developed black-ops technology and worked with NASA on space borne avionics. He was also a game director for EA Sports for Madden & NCAA Football, before starting his digital marketing company nuMedia Innovations. He has an extensive educational background in topics like electrical engineering, computer science, advanced 3D animation, multimedia technologies and digital audio. 

Proof of concept—Since PRSONAS pitched CAF with more than 40 customers already under its belt, it showed marketability. Because it uses technology t’s an interesting product in a promising space, says Brown.