MovingWorlds, the Seattle-based company which offers to connect skilled volunteers with non-profit organizations, social enterprises and startups around the world, has raised a seed investment round to help propel it towards a public release of its platform.
The company raised $375,000 from investors including the Seattle Impact Investing network and Investors Circle. According to MovingWorlds Co-Founder Mark Horoszowski, his company is the first social purpose corporation to raise a seed investment round.
The seed round investment was made using a revenue-based buyback instrument, which means that MovingWorlds will return a certain percentage of its revenue at regular intervals in exchange for some of the shares that the investors purchased during the round. It’s an approach which allows investors to get a consistent return on the money they put down, without pressuring MovingWorlds to work towards unsustainable growth or an acquisition.
Horoszowski said that while getting investors on board required a certain amount of education, he’s happy with how things turned out.
“The biggest challenge was finding aligned investors,” Horoszowski said in an email to GeekWire. “Most people embarking into angel capital seemed to have big dreams of big buyouts, so while originally limiting the number of contacts we found it to be a great screener to find mission-aligned investors.”
MovingWorlds appeared on the scene last year, and is currently working on finishing up beta testing of its “Experteering” matching service. In addition to the company’s website, MovingWorlds is also working with Microsoft to help connect its employees with international, skills-based volunteering organizations as a part of a leadership program.
