Palo Alto-based Social Capital, a tech holding company founded by Chamath Palihapitiya that supports innovative companies in healthcare, artificial intelligence, climate change and space has acquired Hustle, a peer-to-peer text messaging platform.
Chief executive officer Steven Pease and the Hustle management team will continue in their roles following the deal.
Founded in 2014, Hustle offers peer-to-peer text communication tools that create human connections between organisations and their contacts. Hustle’s TCPA compliant platform enables two-way conversations that develop connections over text messaging, eliminating barriers and igniting support for advocacy groups, fundraising, admissions and recruiting.
Organisations using Hustle already include the American Federation of Teachers, Thistle, Sierra Club and New York University in the US. “Over four years ago, Chamath had the confidence to be one of the first investors in Hustle and we are humbled by his conviction in our platform,” said Steven Pease, chief executive officer.
“Our founding vision was a world where organisations are stronger because they can meaningfully connect with people. In today’s climate, Hustle is poised to play an increased role in the communities and networks we support and engagement on our platform has never been greater,” he added.
Chamath Palihapitiya said: “Hustle is uniquely positioned to rethink the way we engage with organisations and companies across the globe. As a scalable mobile platform that leverages machine learning to process billions of interactions at a time, Hustle can refine these critical interactions and foster greater connectivity between community-based organisations, non-profits, corporations and the people they serve. “
Social Capital is a venture capital firm based in Palo Alto, California. Its portfolio includes Mango Games, Secret Cinema, HubHaus, Fresno and Greenhouse.
Chamath Palihapitiya is a Canadian-American venture capitalist and the founder and CEO of Social Capital. Palihapitiya was an early senior executive at Facebook. Following investments in Palantir, Pure Storage (PSTG), Playdom (bought by The Walt Disney Company), and Bumptop (bought by Google), Palihapitiya’s net worth by the age of 34 was USD1 billion.
