Omaze closed their largest round to date and welcomed two new board members as they scale toward their vision of raising $1B for charity
Omaze, the leading online fundraising platform that offers once-in-a-lifetime experiences and prizes to support charities around the world, announced the close of a $30M Series B round led by FirstMark Capital. Additional investors include Causeway Media Partners, BDMI, Tusk Ventures, Inherent Group, Gaingels, Penni Thow’s Copper and Guy Oseary.
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Co-founded by CEO Matt Pohlson in 2012, Omaze has evolved into a leader in social impact and the industry standard of business as a force for good. Omaze was named to Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies list this year, which also ranked them as the #1 company changing the landscape of social good. Omaze offers people around the world the chance to win experiences with high-profile people including Michelle Obama, Oprah, and George and Amal Clooney, or prizes like a Lamborghini blessed and signed by Pope Francis, a custom tiny home or a waterfront dream home in Miami. With a portion of proceeds from each experience supporting a cause, Omaze has netted over $130M to support more than 350 charities to date.
“We’re grateful to close this round during a challenging year and fundraising environment. It’s a testament to the resiliency of our team and the generosity of our community,” said Pohlson. “These funds come at a critical inflection point for the company. We’re excited to accelerate our international expansion and scale our impact.”
Inspired by a near death experience in 2018, Pohlson evolved the business model to create impact at greater scale. In the past 18 months, Omaze has experienced rapid growth in key areas of the business outside of celebrity experiences, most notably within the car vertical. The company went from offering three cars as prizes in 2018 to nearly fifty aspirational, limited edition and one-of-a-kind vehicles so far in 2020. With innovative influencer collaborations and partnerships ranging from Donut Media to the Petersen Automotive Museum, single car experiences run through the Omaze platform can gross over $3.5M and create a massive impact for charities.
In addition to celebrity experiences, cars and travel, in the last year Omaze formally launched homes as a prize offering. They have already launched two $1M+ homes on the platform, one located in Miami, FL and the other in Cheshire, UK.
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