Social media startup SpokeHub, which launched its app earlier this month in the Apple app store and Google Play early this month, has opened its second seed round with $215,000 of the $1.5 million offering, according to a regulatory filing. The company closed its initial $500,000 seed round the first week in December.
The company’s app revives a retro concept: chat rooms, though with more bells and whistles than the old AOL style chatrooms early Internet users may recall.
The co-founding team behind the app, Berryman, Robert Hartsfield, John York, John McAdory, and Terry Johnson built SpokeHub because they believe meaningful, two-way engagement is next-to impossible to achieve through today’s social media and communication tools. They say current platforms do not foster authentic two-way discussions because they were not built for it.
SpokeHub team with Brand Ambassador and TV Star George Lopez. Pictured from Left to Right: George Lopez, John York, Robert Hartsfield, Taylor Glymph, Richard Berryman III (in the back), Kerianne Enderline & Yolanda Rodgers Howsie (sitting down.
What it does: Provides a forum for communicating directly with friends, celebrities, businesses and others
- Features: user-friendly, ability to join or create communication ‘hubs’ around topics or interests, ability to message individuals directly, secure, customizable
- Where to get it: Apple AppStore or Google Play
Ten investors contributed to the current raise so far according to the filing.
Filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission
This story includes reporting by Amy Huffman.
See: The story behind Durham’s SpokeHub and its Five African American Founders.
And: With new financing, Durham social media startup SpokeHub reviving the chat room.
