Groundswell Raises $15 Million Seed Round to Bring Charitable Giving to the Masses
Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He previously covered technology and entertainment for TheWrap and reported on the SoCal startup scene for the Los Angeles Business Journal. Samson is also a proud member of the Transgender Journalists Association. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter at @Samsonamore. Pronouns: he/him
A decorated Marine who led troops through combat in Iraq and Afghanistan for four years and went on to build a successful nonprofit that deployed military veterans to disaster relief, CEO Jake Wood wants corporate America to give back.
Wood said he was inspired to become an entrepreneur because his time in the armed forces taught him to “embrace the suck.” After witnessing humanitarian disasters on a global scale firsthand, he became determined to lead companies that could lead social change.
His answer was El Segundo-based startup Groundswell, a Google-backed app that gives employees a way to offer charitable giving as part of their benefits package.
“All the data suggests that millennial and Gen Z talent, they want to work for companies that have alignment with their values,” Wood said. “What better way for a company to demonstrate that by saying, our values are your values meaning, what what you value we're willing to invest in -- versus saying, we're going to choose the issues that are important for us to address and solve, which is how corporate philanthropy traditionally has been done.”
Wood served in the Marine Corps as a decorated sniper before founding Team Rubicon, a nonprofit that deploys military veterans to help with disaster relief, in 2010. The company raised over $300 million in the 12 years Wood led it, and grew to over 150,000 volunteers worldwide.
Wood stepped down from his job as CEO of Team Rubicon in this year to launch Groundswell, a company he felt could do as much good as Rubicon.
“I didn’t want to be an entrepreneur again if it meant, like, shipping cat food faster,” he recently told the New York Times.
His new venture couldn’t be farther from that. Backed by GV (previously known as Google Ventures), Human Ventures, Marina del Rey-based Moonshots Capital, Felicis Ventures and Core Innovation Capital, the company raised a $15 million seed round. Groundswell will use its sizable seed round to hire new engineers and product staff as it get its app ready to debut in the first quarter of 2022.
Wood wouldn’t disclose what companies are signed up to already use the platform, but he said there is a range, from Fortune 500 firms down to hedge funds and venture- backed companies that are “red-hot” and about to go public.
He argued that beyond just doing good, companies also stand to gain from offering philanthropic benefits because they could help keep employees happy.
“Companies are scrambling to win in the talent war and that means that they're constantly trying to reinvent their benefits packages,” Wood said, noting that COVID-19 “exacerbated” the trend.
“Most people would be surprised to learn that more American households contribute to charity every year than they contribute to a 401K,” Wood said. “We think that charitable giving can just as easily become a non-negotiable element (of the compensation package) alongside it.”
Groundswell sells to employers, who use it to allocate tax-deductible funds for their employees to donate to a registered 501(c)(3) charity of their choice. Wood told dot.LA that one selling point for potential workers to use the program is they can donate pre-taxed income.
“By rolling out a platform like Groundswell, a company can first just give that money into the account for the employee to give away, which means that it's never counted as income for that employee, yet they still get the benefit of directing where that contribution goes,” Wood said. “The company takes a full tax write off for that contribution to the employee.”
Wood said the pandemic prompted an acceleration in companies rethinking their (as he called it) corporate social responsibility departments, and re-evaluating how they give back. Usually companies that offer charitable giving reserve the right to restrict employee donations to a specific set of nonprofits, but Groundswell would let workers send money wherever they choose.
Editor's Note: This story was updated to reflect GV's name.
Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He previously covered technology and entertainment for TheWrap and reported on the SoCal startup scene for the Los Angeles Business Journal. Samson is also a proud member of the Transgender Journalists Association. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter at @Samsonamore. Pronouns: he/him
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Introducing 'Moves': Our New Weekly Recap of Job Changes in LA Tech
This is the first installment of Moves—a weekly feature highlighting job and career changes around the Los Angeles and Southern California tech ecosystem.
Moves is presented by Interchange.LA, dot.LA's recruiting and career platform connecting Southern California's most exciting companies with top tech talent. Create a free Interchange.LA profile here. And if you're looking for ways to supercharge your recruiting efforts, find out more about Interchange.LA's white-glove recruiting service by emailing sharmineh@dot.LA.
Anne Devine and Rose Rogers have joined electric vehicle battery manufacturer Romeo Power as chief operating officer and chief people officer, respectively. Devine arrives from auto parts maker UGN, while Rogers previously worked at aerospace components manufacturer Ducommun.
Rob Leff has joined content technology platform Nativo as chief financial officer. Leff previously held the same role at media measurement startup VideoAmp.
Alex Morrison has joined Pearpop, which helps creators collaborate with social media platforms, as chief marketing officer. Morrison joins the startup from advertising agency Grey West, where he served as global partner and president.
Soo Hong has joined fintech startup Sunbit as chief people officer. Hong previously led people and talent operations at National Veterinary Associates, WeWork and Tinder.
Evelyn Krasnow has joined furniture rental startup Fernish as its new chief marketing officer; she has previously held positions at Bird, Seedling and Berkin. The company has also hired Jorge Montoya as vice president of operations; John Praino as the vice president of partnerships; Sydni Gethner as head of sales; and Tessa Peshke as head of multifamily.
Evan Fitzpatrick and Rajiv Makhijani have been appointed to new roles at audit, risk and compliance platform AuditBoard. Fitzpatrick joins as senior vice president of AuditBoard’s CrossComply product from Bain Capital, while Makhijani was promoted from within and will serve as AuditBoard’s senior vice president of emerging products.
Marketing firm Gimbal | true[X] has appointed Lauri Baker as its senior vice president of partnership strategy. Baker joins from Pause Commercials, where she served as partner and chief operating officer.
Marina del Rey-based venture capital firm Fifth Wall has hired Virginia Drennen, Clay McFarlane and Gaby Yo to vice president positions in value creation, real estate technology and the investment team, respectively. Fifth Wall has also hired Sarah Liu as partner of real estate technology, Cedric Char as senior associate of climate technology, and Mike Foell as the senior finance manager. Oliver Harrison will serve as the company’s new senior associate of Europe, MIchael New will serve as the principle of capital formation and G.M. Nicholas Vik will become a partner and head of strategy.
Stefanie Schwartz has joined creator-focused video distributor Jellysmack as global head of platform partnerships. Schwartz was most recently executive vice president and general manager of Viacom Digital Studios.
Jeff Holland has joined electric vehicle manufacturer VinFast as director of communications. He previously served as director of global communications for Karma Automotive.
Ryan Pollreisz has joined video game developer Imagendary Studios as studio manager. He arrives from Sony Pictures Imageworks, where he served as vice president of artist management.
Ready, Set, Food!, a startup that helps prevent children from developing food allergies, has hired Laura Michelson as senior director of brand marketing and Emily Peltzer as vice president of manufacturing and operations. Michelson joins from cannabis company PLUS while Peltzer arrives from flower retailer The Bouqs Company.
Shipment Tracking Startup Route Claims Unicorn Status After $200 Million Funding Round
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Harri is dot.LA's senior finance reporter. She previously worked for Gizmodo, Fast Company, VentureBeat and Flipboard. Find her on Twitter and send tips on L.A. startups and venture capital to harrison@dot.la.
Ecommerce shipment tracking startup Route—which is based in the “Silicon Slopes” hotbed surrounding Salt Lake City but has a growing presence in Los Angeles—is now claiming unicorn status after raising $200 million in new funding at a $1.25 billion valuation.
Route co-founder and CEO Evan Walker told Forbes that a “London-based investment firm” led its latest funding round, while declining to name the firm due to a nondisclosure agreement. Other investors in the round included L.A.-based Riot Ventures, Madrona Venture Group and Eldridge. The new funding takes Route’s total capital raised to $291 million, Forbes reported, with Walker noting that he remains “by far the biggest majority stockholder” in the company.
Though online sales aren’t growing like they were at the height of coronavirus lockdown restrictions, Route has continued to benefit from the overall trend towards ecommerce. According to Forbes, its annual revenues more than doubled in 2021, to around $80 million.
Though Route’s package-tracking app is free for consumers, the startup makes money by selling shipping, insurance and marketing software to online retailers. Founded in 2018, the company has attracted more than 11,000 merchant clients and tracked more than 175 million packages.
Of Route’s roughly 450-person staff, approximately 40 are based out of its Santa Monica office. Walker said the firm is looking to ramp up its recruiting of tech talent on the West Coast, while a Route spokesperson told dot.LA that it “plans to grow pretty rapidly throughout this year across all departments.”
Do you know something we should know about L.A. tech or venture capital? Reach out securely via Signal: +1 917 434 4978.
Harri is dot.LA's senior finance reporter. She previously worked for Gizmodo, Fast Company, VentureBeat and Flipboard. Find her on Twitter and send tips on L.A. startups and venture capital to harrison@dot.la.
Workers at Activision Subsidiary Raven Software Form Labor Union
Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He previously covered technology and entertainment for TheWrap and reported on the SoCal startup scene for the Los Angeles Business Journal. Samson is also a proud member of the Transgender Journalists Association. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter at @Samsonamore. Pronouns: he/him
More than 30 employees at the Activision-owned game developer’s quality assurance testing department have formed the Game Workers Alliance, a union created under the nationwide Communications Workers of America labor guild. The effort is part of the CWA’s ongoing Campaign to Organize Digital Employees, which has sought to unionize Activison’s roughly 10,000 employees.
Wisconsin-based Raven Software—which was acquired by Activision in 1997 and works primarily on the hugely popular “Call of Duty” series—is the first business unit within Activision to form a labor union. The move comes one month after independent developer Vodeo Games voluntarily recognized a union formed by its workers, making it the first certified labor union at a North American video game studio.
The Game Workers Alliance, however, would be the first union at a major AAA game publisher. If Activision opts not to voluntarily recognize the union by later this month, the workers will move forward with a National Labor Relations Board-sponsored vote that would force recognition and give them the right to collectively bargain a labor contract.
In a statement, an Activision spokesperson said the company “is carefully reviewing the request for voluntary recognition from the CWA.”
“While we believe that a direct relationship between the company and its team members delivers the strongest workforce opportunities, we deeply respect the rights of all employees under the law to make their own decisions about whether or not to join a union,” the spokesperson said.
Raven Software employees have been on strike for five weeks after commencing a work stoppage on Dec. 6 to protest Activision’s decision to lay off a dozen quality assurance testers working on its first-person shooter titles. The work stoppage was Activision’s third in five months, with employees having also downed tools in protest of the company’s handling of workplace sexual misconduct allegations.
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Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He previously covered technology and entertainment for TheWrap and reported on the SoCal startup scene for the Los Angeles Business Journal. Samson is also a proud member of the Transgender Journalists Association. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter at @Samsonamore. Pronouns: he/him