Terkel, a question and answer site that is disrupting how small businesses build authority online, today announced that it has closed a $1 million Series Seed. Venture capital firms, Sonoran Founders Fund, Stout Street, and Calm Company Fund participated in this round of seed funding.
The Terkel platform has experienced impressive growth since launching in February of 2021, reporting nearly 7,500 users to date, including over 350 paying users. Terkel’s user base includes premier publishers like SHRM, GoDaddy, University of Arizona, SCORE, and more.
Terkel plans to use this investment to augment its growth, by enhancing its technology capabilities and adding premier talent to its community management team, to build brand awareness and onboard new publishers.
“This funding will directly support Terkel’s mission to connect brands with expert insights,” said Brett Farmiloe, Founder and CEO of Terkel. “Securing this investment will help us realize our vision of democratizing thought leadership.”
Terkel uses Machine Learning algorithms and Natural Language Processing to convert expert insights into full-length articles, sparing publishers from fielding pitches, selecting quotes, and creating content.
“Terkel is more than a marketing tool. It’s a platform that presents an opportunity to reimagine access to earned media, and expand the publishing capabilities of brands,” said Romi Dhillon, Managing Director of Sonoran Founders Fund. “We’re thrilled to issue this investment that will support Terkel’s work to give voice to small businesses and benefit its stakeholders, including publishers, agencies, and journalists.”
Terkel has prioritized publishers as well. Through publishing more than 2,500 articles for brands, Terkel has generated organic search traffic and social media visibility for its publishing partners.
“Being able to partner with Terkel has been a huge benefit to Goodwill as it helps us get content out quickly and under best practices with search engine optimization,” said Nathan Alberts, Senior Content Specialist for Goodwill Arizona. “Not only does it give us visibility and credibility, but it also brings visibility to these experts and what they provide.”
About Sonoran Founders Fund
The Sonoran Founders Fund (Sonoran) is a seed stage venture capital fund based in Scottsdale, Arizona. Led by seasoned technology leaders and investors, the fund is dedicated to investing in underserved technology entrepreneurs across Arizona, Southern California, Nevada, New Mexico, parts of Texas and the surrounding Southwest. Sonoran was launched by the same esteemed team that created the Arizona Founders Fund and grew it to its current place as the most active venture firm in Arizona. The fund is focused on its founders and providing maximum returns to all involved. To learn more, please visit https://sonoranfund.com/.
About Terkel
Terkel is a question and answer site that turns any question into an article featuring expert insights. More than 7,500 leaders and professionals from organizations like Google, Harvard, VISA, Southwest Airlines, Airbnb, the NFL and more answer questions on Terkel to build their brand and share their expertise.