SendOwl, a platform used to sell and deliver digital products, has raised $4.5 million in seed funding from Defy.vc, with participation from Stripe and other investors. SendOwl enables creators and businesses to sell digital goods such as e-books, podcasts, online courses, memberships, coaching services, live remote events and more. Users are able to do so on their existing website or blog via SendOwl’s payment links, integrations with Stripe and Shopify, or by using SendOwl’s API.
The startup aims to increase the GDP of the creator economy and is a remote-first company with employees across three continents and customers in more than 50 countries. SendOwl says it has delivered nearly $2 billion of value in digital and virtual goods for tens of thousands of paying merchants across millions of transactions. Current SendOwl customers range from Universal Music Group and fitness influencer Kayla Itsines to thousands of independent creators.
SendOwl CEO Matt Plotke, who was previously a growth leader at Stripe and LinkedIn, says SendOwl plans to use its seed funding to further accelerate growth and to offer new products and infrastructure to meet the growing needs of the creator economy.
“Our focus is on team, product and growth. We’re actively hiring across engineering, product, marketing and more, which will enable us to ship SendOwl 2.0 while also continuing to scale our existing product and user base,” Plotke told TechCrunch. “We saw some really amazing organic growth during the heights of the COVID-19 pandemic, and we want to continue to build on that momentum while delighting our existing user base with more products and features coming soon.”
SendOwl was founded a decade ago as a side project by George Palmer, who says he was unable to find a reliable way to sell digital goods directly to buyers. Plotke explained that when he had the opportunity to buy the company in 2020, he moved as quickly as possible to make it happen. Now, Plotke says SendOwl is back to a “re-founding” moment as it has raised money from Defy.vc and Stripe and is also in the process of enhancing its platform.
Plotke says SendOwl differs from its competition because it lets sellers sell what they want and where they want across multiple platforms. He notes that users can quickly create an account, add payment capabilities, create a product, make it available for sale and get it in the hands of potential buyers through a simple process.
Regarding the most popular activity on the platform, SendOwl sees lots of merchants selling audio files such as music, podcasts and guides. The platform also sees merchants selling videos, coaching services, memberships, secure PDFs and access to live events. SendOwl sees the most activity in music, books and writing, health and beauty, apps and software, sports, hobbyist content, food and cooking, professional development and influencer marketing.
In terms of the future, Plotke says “the next generation of SendOwl, if we execute right, is going to change the game for creators, businesses and end buyers. It’s still day zero for digital goods in our minds. We want to get to parity and go beyond the tools and infrastructure that has been built for physical goods internet commerce.”
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