Frontier Capital (Frontier), a Charlotte-based growth equity firm focused exclusively on B2B software, has made a strategic growth investment in Phone2Action, a digital advocacy platform that connects citizens to lawmakers.
Phone2Action enables companies, non-profits, and associations to engage their customers, members, and stakeholders in grassroots advocacy, connecting them over social, email, text, and phone to lawmakers about the issues that matter to them. Its differentiated platform is optimally designed for the mobile and smartphone experience, prompting timely action to leverage mission-aligned messaging inspiring lawmakers to act.
Since 2013, more than 15 million people have used the platform to reach lawmakers across the US and abroad, and constituents have engaged with policy-makers more than 50 million times. Last year, constituents sent messages to 19,000 different officials. With more than 550 clients including Airbnb, Lyft, Ben & Jerry’s, the Alzheimer’s Impact Movement, Patagonia, and the Consumer Technology Association, the Company helped to transform the advocacy and public affairs field.
“Now more than ever, citizens and the organisations they belong to – and buy from – are looking for ways to make their voices heard,” says Jeb Ory, co-founder and CEO of Phone2Action. “We are incredibly proud of the business we have built at the intersection of technology and policy. Every day, tens of thousands of people use our software to engage on issues they care about. We believe partnering with Frontier Capital will help us accelerate our mission to become the connective tissue between constituents, their government, and the organisations they care about.”
“With little funding going to women-led businesses, today’s investment says volumes both about Frontier Capital and the business we have built,” says Ximena Hartsock, co-founder of Phone2Action. “We believe our success is reflective of our amazing customers and multicultural, diverse employee base, representing the whole of the US and over 20 countries. I have been deeply impressed with the Frontier team and am thrilled to work with them in continuing to grow Phone2Action and the digital advocacy industry.”
“People today are highly motivated to advocate for social issues and initiatives that matter to them,” says Andrew Lindner, co-founder and Managing Partner at Frontier. “However, the process for advocating has historically been a cumbersome and confusing experience. Phone2Action enables non-profits, associations, and corporations to identify and engage individuals who wish to demonstrate their support for a given issue in an easy and intuitive way. Frontier is excited to partner with the Phone2Action team in supporting their impressive growth while continuing to deliver best-in-class advocacy software to its customers and their end-users.”
Lindner along with Frontier Partner Michael Ramich and Vice President Matt Williams will join the Phone2Action board of directors. Frontier’s investment in Phone2Action comes from the firm’s $700 million Frontier Fund V, which closed in 2017.
Lightning Partners served as exclusive financial advisor to Phone2Action in connection with the transaction.
