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A startup billing itself as the “HootSuite of social aggregation and visualization” is launching – with a fresh $1.2 million under its belt.
Promising to bolster customer reach, Fliptu offers companies a suite of social aggregation tools, through which they can embed selected pieces of content. Whereas automated social-posting services – like the aforementioned HootSuite – employ a “push” model, in which they disseminate content through multiple outlets like Facebook and Twitter, Fliptu uses a “pull” model, taking content from different sources and uniting it all in one location.
“In 60 seconds, a brand can build a campaign and have it live and embedded anywhere with a single line of iframe code,” said founder and CEO Jeremy Gocke.
Gocke said the idea dawned upon him while he worked as a brand manager with a portfolio of over 100 companies. In search of an aggregation tool that could support his hefty client base, he found that most options couldn’t support that many brands, were too expensive, or had too many barriers (i.e., preliminary demos and schedule onboarding, which he described as “the classic ‘is this brand big enough to care about’ shakedown”).
“We wanted a solution that enabled us to create and manage all major types of social aggregation campaigns in one service, enabled us to get started immediately without a lengthy vetting/qualification process, offered us flexible monthly payment and upgrade/downgrade based on current needs, and [was] simple/efficient to use across multiple brands,” he said. “It didn't exist. So we built it for the 99 percent of brands that are priced out of the incumbent model.”
While a host of other social-media-aggregation tools exist, Gocke purports, most of them target small and medium-sized businesses. By contrast, Fliptu, he said, resembles the enterprise-level software employed by large companies. “At that level, we can compete on features but also offer far more affordable and flexible pricing and quicker ramp up. We're seeing attrition business from big brands and agencies come our way because of it.”
If the startup’s roster of beta testers is any indication, he may be right. Before launching Fliptu’s beta period, Gocke tapped into a pool of contacts in the entertainment industry (which he said he and his colleagues had amassed from previous work and investments in media and live events), recruiting the marketing teams behind such entertainers as Jimmy Kimmel, Maria Sharapova, and Meghan Trainor to test the prototype.
The next move as the startup prepares to “ramp up?” Putting its recent $1.2 million round to work. The financing, provided by a collection of investors including Scout Ventures and former Amazon CIO Rick Dalzell, will go toward product development hires and expansion into other verticals, such as fashion, lifestyle brands, and nonprofits, Gocke said.
“Our main focus in the near term is to take our success in the music and entertainment industries and expand into new verticals,” he added. “We're approaching expansion very strategically; we'll launch in each target vertical with a major strategic partner from the outset.”
The company will also introduce an API this summer for clients requiring higher volumes of visualizations.
