Less than a year ago, Product Hunt was a typical email list with small following. But now the Reddit-like community board that highlights up-and-coming tech products has grown into something much more, and today announced a $6.1 million Series A round led by Andreessen Horowitz.
Product Hunt is a place for early adopters to find the latest gadgets, websites, hardware projects and more. It mimics community-based sites like Reddit and Hacker News, using “upvotes” to surface the hottest and most-discussed posts. Product makers and app creators are often engaged in discussions with those interested in the new ideas.
Today’s funding round also includes participation from Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. In addition, former Microsoft executive and Andreessen Horowitz partner Steven Sinofsky has joined Product Hunt’s board of directors.
Sinofsky wrote about Product Hunt and its founder Ryan Hoover in a blog post today.
“When I first hung out with Ryan outside of a conference room, he brought me to The Grove coffee shop on Mission St.,” Sinofsky wrote. “We sat outside and began to talk about products, enthusiasts, and community. It was immediately clear Ryan sees the world or products in a unique way — he sees a world of innovation, openness to new ideas, and unfiltered communication between makers and consumers. As founder, Ryan embodies the mission-oriented founders a16z loves to work with and he’s built a team that shares that passion and mission.”
Hoover detailed his startup’s progression over the past year on Medium today.
“We’ve captured the attention of a passionate group of early adopters; a group of makers and enthusiasts that enjoy geeking out about the latest tech products, but Product Hunt’s crowd-curated, community model is needed in so many other verticals,” Hoover wrote. “This explosion of creation isn’t isolated to tech products. We see it happening in games, movies, music, books, and fashion, among other categories.”
Learn more about how Product Hunt works here.
