Hummingbirds is a woman-founded startup that connects hyperlocal content creators with homegrown brands like coffee shops and grocery store chains to share and market their products to small, engaged communities through social media. Reward those who help.
The company announced a $5.4 million seed round on Wednesday, bringing its total funding to $10 million. The new capital will support the platform's expansion to 20 additional cities by 2025, including Atlanta, Georgia. Charlotte, North Carolina. and Denver, Colorado.
Launched last year, the platform is betting on localized word-of-mouth marketing for brands to build trust with local customers. Small business owners often struggle with local marketing, usually due to limited budgets and competition from established brands. Hummingbirds believes the solution lies in its own backyard. This means leveraging “PTA moms” (also known as parents who are actively involved in school activities such as fundraisers) and neighborhood creators to help promote your product.
“when [brands] When looking to drive in-store activity for these retailers, they need new marketing tools. At Hummingbirds, we realized we could help these brands move quickly to increase brand awareness, build a loyal following, and get customers in their stores. Go back to the store and buy the product again and again,'' co-founder Charise Flynn told TechCrunch.
Hummingbirds allows brands to launch targeted marketing campaigns that target local residents and encourage them to share their products with their followers on social media. We currently have more than 300 brand partners, from well-known brands like Chop Local, Cutwater, Goodles, and Olipop to small businesses and local chains like AE Dairy, Century Farm Distillery, and Fareway Grocery.
To encourage participation, companies offer perks like gift cards ranging from $50 to $250, free experiences (like a massage at a spa), free products, and other perks.
Hummingbirds takes a 0% commission from creators, but brands must pay to launch campaigns on the platform.
Image credit: Hummingbird
The platform focuses on everyday creators who consider social sharing a hobby, and most of their followers are friends and local connections. “Nano creators” with up to 10,000 followers claim they often achieve higher engagement rates thanks to their loyal followers. The company claims its strategy of creating “city-specific content” increases sales by up to 14x and enhances social engagement by 80%.
“Their engagement rates are much higher than traditional industry standards. We see 3-4% engagement on average…most influencers have 0.7% engagement,” Flynn said. I did.
Several startups similar to Hummingbirds have emerged in recent years, including Franki, Mavely, Mavn, and Soci, but Hummingbirds sets itself apart by primarily targeting content creators in Central America. I'm doing it. The platform operates in more than 20 cities, including Des Moines, Illinois. Madison, Wisconsin. Nashville, Tennessee. and Omaha, Nebraska.
This focus is strategic, as the company believes this area is often overlooked and difficult for many brands looking to expand their reach.
“They don’t know how to market to Central America. [Customers are] Since they spend a lot of money on groceries, you can activate the Hummingbird community to increase brand awareness and increase product sales velocity. It was really beneficial for us to focus on the marketing part, which is a little bit more difficult for them,” Flynn explained.
Co-founder Emily Steele is the visionary behind Hummingbirds. While working as a small-time content creator in Iowa, she realized there was an opportunity to support local brands in her community.
“Hummingbirds started in Des Moines, Iowa, when we tried an oat milk latte, shared it on social, and got excited about helping others share our city’s small businesses,” Steele said. spoke. She also said the company's name comes from the nickname her father-in-law used to call her, since hummingbirds are the “local pollinators” and are always “flying around town.”
Recently, the company has experienced rapid growth. It has quadrupled its revenue and doubled the size of its community in the past year, now claiming to have 11,000 creators.
Seed round participants include Allos Ventures, Ground Game, Homegrown Capital, InnoVenture Iowa Fund, ISA Ventures, M25 Fund, and Next Level Ventures.