The founder of Upsie, a platform designed to make purchasing and storing product warranties easy and affordable, just closed a seed round of funding for $1.7 million—a remarkable feat especially for a tech entrepreneur of color.
- Upsie is an app designed to take the headaches and guesswork out of product warranties. Users can buy product warranties via Upsie instead of through the product manufacturer.
- Upsie does away with the retail warranty’s markup price and can offer warranties for less.
- Plus, with Upsie, users can compare warranty prices and terms, have online storage for digital receipts, and can track when warranties are set to expire.
The founder, Clarence Bethea, says since the app’s official launch in June 2016, it’s attracted over 14,000 customers. He also says the company has 25% month-over-month revenue and that the team has grown from a staff of two to seven.
The investors involved in this round include Techstars Ventures, Matchstick Ventures, Gopher Angels, M25, Village Capital Investments, and Syndicate Fund. Other investors are Marc Belton, Mark Addicks, and Jim D’Aquila
Bethea says, “Our round was oversubscribed.” He says the company’s investors see a growing company “with a great team in an industry that has traditionally been anti-consumer.”
