Simplyk raises $3.7M seed round to bring free fundraising platform to nonprofits

Canadian startup, which developed North America's first free online fundraising platform, will use funds to add donor intelligence capabilities and expand to the United States

MONTREAL, Nov. 17, 2021 /CNW Telbec/ - Simplyk, a Canadian company that provides North America's first 100% free online fundraising platform for nonprofits, announced today it has closed a $3.7M CAD seed funding round. The round was led by Ring Capital, with additional funding from strategic investors including Real Ventures and Panache Ventures.

Nonprofit organizations in North America spend more than 10 billion dollars in online fundraising fees each year, and this number is growing by more than 10% year-over-year. Platform and processing fees make online fundraising prohibitive to nonprofits, which need to demonstrate high efficiency and low overhead.

Simplyk solves this problem by offering the first North American fundraising platform that allows nonprofits to create donation forms, sell tickets for their events, run peer-to-peer campaigns, or raise money in any way they like -- all at no cost and with no transaction fees. Unlike other platforms, Simplyk earns revenues exclusively from optional contributions that donors can add at the end of their transaction.

"Fundraising technology is critical to nonprofits' success but eats up too much of the funds they need to raise," said François de Kerret, Simplyk's CEO. "We fixed this vicious circle by providing tools that allow nonprofits to keep every dollar their donors pledge. With Simplyk, nonprofits can raise more money, more easily, which lets them focus on their mission and direct more funds to those in need."

In less than three years, Simplyk has signed up more than 4000 nonprofits including branches of Big Brothers Big Sisters, YMCA and United Way. Collectively, these organizations raised more than $30M on Simplyk's platform. The platform is a turnkey solution with strong customer support that makes fundraising easy for both staff and donors. Nonprofits using Simplyk's optimized fundraising forms achieved a conversion rate (visitors to donors) 30% higher than the industry average, and ranked Simplyk among the top customer-centric companies with a 77 Net Promoter Score.

"By offering nonprofits a free and efficient solution to optimize their fundraising, Simplyk allows these vital organizations to multiply their impact by focusing on their core business: supporting their beneficiaries," said Laurent Babut, Partner at Ring Capital. "With technology serving impact, Simplyk perfectly illustrates Ring Mission's investment thesis, and we are very proud to back the team in this major step of their development."

Simplyk will use the funds to expand in the United States, as well as adding donor intelligence capabilities to its platform so that charities can manage their supporters' data, engage with them more efficiently and grow their budget.

About Simplyk
Simplyk (pronounced Simply-K) is North America's first free technology platform for nonprofits. The company was founded by Thibaut Jaurou and François de Kerret, who as university students built the largest volunteering marketplace in Québec and have dedicated their careers to building tech that accelerates nonprofit impact. Simplyk has enabled over 4,000 charities across Canada to raise millions of dollars in online donations, run fundraising campaigns and manage their event box office at no cost. The platform allows them to increase their social impact by raising more funds thanks to an innovative remuneration model based on voluntary contributions and its intuitive interface. In less than three years, Simplyk has grown exponentially and climbed into the top 10 of fundraising software (GetApp's Category Leaders in Nonprofit). For more info, visit our website at app.simplyk.io.

About Ring Capital
Ring Capital is an investment ecosystem dedicated to backing fast-growing and impact tech companies via three investment vehicles. Ring Altitude (€ 165M), which is positioned in the growth tech segment, is dedicated to French tech scale-ups aiming for solid growth through internationalization and build-up. Ring Mission (€ 40M after 1st closing) is a venture impact fund for ambitious start-ups generating social or environmental impact at scale. Finally, Ring Foundation is a philanthropic fund dedicated to supporting early-stage tech charities both financially and operationally, tackling major social issues. Ring's founders are Geoffroy Bragadir, founder and former CEO of Empruntis and Nicolas Celier, ex-Partner of Alven Capital. They are supported by a complementary team of operational doers and experienced investors backed by a community of experts and mentors gathered in the Ring2Success support program dedicated to the portfolio companies. The managed funds come from institutional investors such as Tikehau Capital and bpifrance, as well as families and private investors. Find out more at www.ringcp.com.

SOURCE Simplyk

Media contact:‍ Dov Smith, Simplyk PR, [phone], [email protected]

Related Links

www.simplyk.io