US-based Curate, a modern sales and operations platform for florists, caterers and other creative small businesses, raised US$ 1.25 million in a seed funding round on 19 June 2021.
Investors: The funding round was led by Chicago-based OCA Ventures, with participation from co-founder of Square – Jim McKelvey, Cultivation Capital and Stout Street Capital.
About Curate
Founded in 2013 by Ben Glass, Bria Cavitt, Holly Dechelle Smith, Rachael O’Neil, Ryan O’Neil and Zach Errant, Curate makes it easy for small businesses to instantly create proposals, process payments, manage complicated supply chains and optimize communication with customers and suppliers. It helps them to save time and maximize profitability.
Curate was originally launched as a platform to help florists grow profitable businesses. However, now it also serves catering businesses and plans to be the premier sales and operations platform for all creative-driven small businesses. It claims to have processed over US$ 300 million in payments.
Services offered:
- Create eye-catching proposals with drag and drop tools that can turn a customer’s Pinterest inspiration into a customized work of art.
- Manage customer payments and communications via a built-in CRM.
- Process customer event orders and daily orders.
- Track supply costs and quantities.
- Integrate custom orders with wholesaler purchasing for zero waste.
- Instantly sync data across systems.
Curate also offers integration with tools like Square, QuickBooks, Stripe, Xero, Nowsta, Google Calendar, thus helping business owners optimize their workflow all in a single platform.
What the CEO has to say: “We expect a massive economic boom for the events industry as people emerge from the pandemic, but small businesses will need the right technology to capitalize on the demand. From struggling to keep up with a flood of new business opportunities to navigating an unpredictable supply chain, they’ll need tools to speed sales and streamline operations, and this is exactly what Curate was made for. With this funding round, we are perfectly positioned to help our customers grow rapidly and profitably.” — Rachael O’Neil, CEO of Curate.
What the investors have to say: “Ryan and the Curate team really stepped up over the past year to serve their customers when they were needed the most. The events industry had an especially trying year, and the fact that Curate helped so many small businesses find success shows the power of the platform and the strength of the team. We are excited to partner with them as they help even more small businesses create amazing and profitable experiences for their customers.” — Tamin Abdul Majid, General Partner at OCA Ventures.
For more extensive analysis and Market Intelligence reports feel free to approach us or visit our website: Venture Capital Market Intelligence Reports | VCBay.
We try our best to fact check and bring the best, well-researched and non-plagiarized content to you. Please let us know
-if there are any discrepancies in any of our published stories,
-how we can improve,
-what stories you would like us to cover and what information you are looking for, in the comments section below or through our contact form! We look forward to your feedback and thank you for stopping by!
Next Article
