Goodworld

Goodworld is a social media payments platform.

It's going to market via the $360 billion charitable giving vertical. It has created a seamless, simple and secure user experience enabling anyone to make instant, viral donations on social media with just a hashtag: #donate.

With other solutions in the market, the transaction is not instant or social. It requires the user to go to a 3rd-party site, and input payment information with every new donation. Not only does that require too much work and too many forms to fill out, but it's not naturally social or shareable.

Goodworld's solution is simple and secure. A user on Facebook, for example, might see a charity they'd like to donate to. All they need to do is post "#donate" with the amount they'd like to give. Once they've registered once, they'll never need to do register again.

Furthermore, this technology could be used for university giving, political contributions, and even eCommerce (to pay for anything using your mobile phone -- from Starbucks to movie tickets.)

Goodworld is one of Fast Company’s 2016 World’s Most Innovative Companies alongside Facebook, Warby Parker and Toms. Last year it earned “Best DC Tech Startup" at Tech in Motion's TIMMY Awards at Capital One Headquarters, joining other Best Tech winners TripAdvisor, Venmo, Instacart and Contactually.

Its lead investor, a venture capital fund called Nyca, has investment partners that include Hans Morris (former head of Visa Payments), Osama Bedier (Launched Google Wallet, former Head of Google Payments), and Max Levchin (Cofounder PayPal).

Existing Angel Investors include Chris Liddell (Former CFO Microsoft, GM and Current CFO WME-IMG), and Katharine Weymouth (Former CEO Washington Post).

The Goodworld Advisory Board includes Kevin Roberts (Head of Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide), and Adam Grant (Author, Wharton Professor and Behavioral Science Expert).

Since coming out of beta last May, the company has built a scalable, secure platform and partnered with over 1,650 charities including some of the world’s biggest (United Way, Save the Children, UNICEF, PETA and Greenpeace, Oxfam, and USO).

Its early growth has been almost exclusively organic. It's experienced a 300% increase in users since launching out of beta and it's maintaining a ~20% CAGR month to month in donations, revenue and wallets (signed-up donors).

It's processed over $875,000 in donations from more than 30,000 #donate pledges by over 17,000 unique donors since coming out of beta. 24% of its users are repeat donors with an average of over 1.9 donations per donor. Its rolling net revenue is over $2.86 and growing and its conversion rates are over 62% on Facebook.

For this investment, the company partnered with the DC Innovation Investment Program that will match any investment the company receives in July, and incentivize the investor with a 25% "carry" of proceeds.

Team Background

John Gossart - Co-Founder & COO

Prior to Goodworld, John was an original partner at RideScout (www.RideScout.com), the transportation tech startup acquired by Daimler-Mercedes in 2014.

Before becoming an entrepreneur, John served over 22 years in the U.S. Army and Government, work that took him to various locations across Africa, Pakistan, Yemen, Afghanistan, Iraq and Europe, most recently serving as deputy director of special operations and counterterrorism policy in the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

He graduated from Boston College in 1992 and has a Masters in Public Policy and Fiscal Management from the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University, where continues to teach policy and economics as an adjunct professor.

Dale Pfeifer - Founder & CEO

Dale has extensive experience in social media campaigns, fundraising, communications, leadership research and program management at the highest level of the foundation and non-profit industries.

She has worked extensively with organizations across the United States and New Zealand to help them understand their purpose and deliver cutting-edge programs and communications strategies.

Her broad range of professional responsibilities have included: designing and implementing programs; designing, launching and managing campaigns; building social networks that engage key influencers; developing and implementing communications strategies; building communities of support; and leading professional and organizational development initiatives.

She earned her Master of Management from Massey University.

Jason Shafton - Chief Product Officer

Jason has seven years of experience at Google leading product and marketing teams responsible for AdWords and Google Play.

He's built and grown billion dollar businesses at Google, Viacom and Thermo Fisher Scientific and was co-founder of an on-demand healthcare startup that's raised over $6 million in venture capital and launched across California.

Co-Investors

Nyca Partners

Venture capital firm exclusively focused on applying innovation in financial services. Its experience and deep connections in both finance and technology give it a unique perspective and facility to help entrepreneurs transform payments, credit models, digital advice, and financial infrastructure. Its managing partner used to be President of Visa. Portfolio companies include IndeGoGo, SigFig, and LendingClub.

Camp One Ventures

Venture fund focusing on social media, mobility, financial technology and payments, cloud computing and software-as-a-service.

Fenway Summer Ventures

Venture capital firm focused on fin-tech investments.

Chris Liddell

Chris served as Chief Financial Officer at General Motors Company from January 2010 to April 1, 2011. At GM, Mr. Liddell led General Motors Company's global finance operations and $23 billion IPO. Mr. Liddell served as the Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President of Microsoft Corporation from May 2005 to December 2009. He was responsible for leading Microsoft Corp.'s worldwide finance organization and overseeing accounting and reporting, strategic planning and analysis, treasury, tax, audit, and investor relations.