Pond Raises $1.5 Million in Pre-Seed Capital

Pond Co-Founders Kiara Anderson & Mitch Stein

Pond, a social impact platform, has raised $1.5 Million in pre-seed capital, which will be used to scale the only marketplace that pays nonprofits to discover the best tools and services.

The pre-seed round includes investments from Gaingels, Clear Heights Capital, Ash Crest, Equity Investment Group, and several angel investors (Including Sarah-Marie Martin & Nick Brophy and nonprofit tech founder JD Beebe)

​​Pond’s innovative approach addresses historical pain points for both sides of this market. For nonprofits, Pond offers a streamlined, efficient way to find and fund solutions to level up their impact. For technology or service providers, Pond provides a superior way to connect with nonprofit leaders in need of their solutions.

“Most nonprofits don’t have the time, expertise, or resources to invest in technology that would actually be game-changing for their organizations in terms of efficiency and effectiveness,” said Rehana Farrell, executive director of Youth INC, a nonprofit serving over 75 youth development organizations in NYC that collectively champion more than 200,000 young people each year. “By creating a marketplace where technology companies and service providers pay nonprofit leaders for their investment of time to learn more about their products and services, Pond creates a win for everyone! Pond is also leading the charge for more professional development in the nonprofit sector, which we are passionate about at Youth INC.”

“Pond is positioned to be a tremendous catalyst for the impact economy,” said Wray Thorn, partner at Focus Impact Partners and founder of Clear Heights Capital, a lead investor in Pond’s pre-seed raise. “Having an impact and doing well financially are increasingly aligned; and the nonprofit sector, which is responsible for so much impact, should have access to the advanced technologies and business practices utilized by many "for-profit" companies. We believe there is a significant opportunity for a marketplace like Pond to afford this access with a model that is a win/win for both nonprofits and vendors.”

To date, Pond has 600 users and nonprofits are saving an average of 50% on purchases through the platform. In addition to earning $100 every time they meet with a potential vendor, Pond members also earn money for attending live webinars on the platform, which cover everything from professional development, fundraising in Bitcoin, to DEI initiatives.

Pond will also be pitching as an alternate at the South by Southwest Pitch Competition later this month- the only nonprofit-focused endeavor on the stage this year. Mitch Stein, Pond’s Co-founder & CEO, sees Pond’s inclusion at this prestigious event as another indicator of runway for companies who, like Pond, are focused on the nonprofit community.

In addition to announcing its pre-seed capital raise, Pond has also solidified an Advisory Board, which includes Farrell and Thorn, as well as Alyson Hudson (Prudential), Tracy Kronzak (Nonprofit Technologist), Bob Osborne (The Osborne Group, StudioX), Jason Shim (Nonprofit Technologist), Tim Lockie (Now IT Matters) and Madison Mikhail Bush (Point App).

“Nonprofits are powerful,” said Stein, who started creating Pond after leaving his role as a VP in Goldman Sachs’ technology investment banking group two years ago. “We’ve built Pond as a cutting edge online marketplace that unlocks more of that power to accelerate positive change within these organizations and the communities they serve.”

Source: Pond

The preceding press release was provided by a company unaffiliated with NonProfit PRO. The views expressed within do not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of NonProfit PRO.