Rally.org, an online fundraising platform that’s used extensively by candidates on both sides of the aisle, has raised some $7.9 million in new cash from investors. The injection of the venture capital money will help Rally.org expand its presence in Europe with the goal of extending the platform’s global reach. C&E asked CEO Tom Serres and Rally.org’s Nick Warshaw about the company’s plans.
C&E: What’s the focus in terms of using these dollars to expand?
Tom Serres: Our biggest emphasis is going to be on hiring more engineers to scale our growth and to manage the growth of the existing platform. That’s the primary focus. Beyond that, we want to expand into the European market and go mobile. We’re always improving and making the experience pleasant, beautiful, and elegant.
Nick Warshaw: A global brand is certainly what we want to achieve.
C&E: Do you look at this as a vote of confidence for crowdfunding?
Serres: I think it’s a vote of confidence in Rally’s ability to truly help causes that matter, be it political or local or non-profit. We’ve had a tremendous amount of success and our investors are aware of that. We have the ability to really help candidates get their message out. We’re reaching across both sides of the aisle and serving local to statewide to federal races. The idea is to help candidates get their mission out and it’s certainly a core part of our business that we are always looking at improving.
C&E: Anything else geared specifically toward the campaign world?
Serres: We’re really excited about having an opportunity to innovate in the political space. We certainly view political campaigns as a type of cause that matters. Politicians want to improve the lives of those around them, so that’s what we aim to help them do.