Drop the mic, not the smartphone. Crowd Mics, the startup that turns your smartphone into a wireless microphone, announced today they closed a $1 million dollar seed round led by top angel investment group, Sand Hill Angels. Other participants in the round include Keiretsu Capital, Arizona Technology Investors, Desert Angels, and other private investors.
Tim Holladay, co-founder Crowd Mics said the decision to partner with Sand Hill Angels was an easy one, “…they instantly saw Crowd Mic’s vision and they were key in raising this round and fundraising. [In addition,] they are not silent partner, they active partners in a lot of ways.” Mark Mitchell, a member of Sand Hill Angels, currently sits on the board.
WATCH: Sean and Tim Holladay talk about bootstrapping on The Startup Journal
Crowd Mics was born in 2014 after brothers Sean and Tim Holladay were at a conference and while participants from around the room were asking questions, they couldn’t hear what other people were saying, and they decided to fix that problem. The technology works via WiFi or Bluetooth receiver and can be heard through the room’s sound system. Other features on the app include text commenting and polling.
“It feels like so long ago,” Tim said. “Since we launched, the technology, first and foremost, has drastically improved and it’s so much better than when we launched. We were excited to have a product that just worked.”
Crown Mics has been used by top tech companies for their events including, Oracle Open World, UBS, Salesforce and Vodafone. Tim said that through Crowd Mics, event engagement for his clients increased 5X. “We are doing exactly what we said we would do, and the clients keep coming back after using Crowd Mics. We are truly powering Q&A for their sessions.”
The company was noted as one of the startups to watch by USA Today, took home a win at SXSW V2Venture in Las Vegas, won a pitch battle against a startup seen on Shark Tank at the Society of Independent Show Organizers (SISO) 2014 Event Innovation Battlefield, and took a “W” again at the inaugural Event Technology of the Year in Las Vegas held by Event Manager Blog.
In the last three months Crowd Mics has doubled their revenue, added board members- including Tim Gill, CIO of Plantronics-and hired an engineer team. With this raise the company will continue to “build the team, add more engineers, business development, support and marketing services, and build partnerships for conferences.” Tim said.
At 2016 CES in Las Vegas, look for Crowd Mics to fuel the Digital Health Summit on January 7. AZ Tech Beat will be on the ground at CES, look for our live coverage with Crowd Mics.
Learn all about Crowd Mics from the beginning to now at AZ Tech Beat.
