附近上门

About a year ago, had an idea for a digital platform that would enable people to collaborate with and learn from others, even if they didn鈥檛 share the same location.

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Her company, , was inspired by an international conference Qu鈥檚 mother, a pediatrician, attended in 2019. While there, her mother met another pediatrician who shared the same type of patient case. The two doctors eventually collaborated.

鈥淚 started thinking that while it is good to have access to things like medical papers, access to other people offered her the most amount of value,鈥� Qu told 附近上门 News. 鈥淚 was inspired to start the company, and to democratize interactions with people and have them happen more often.鈥�

The idea turned into a way for organizers to run an event entirely risk-free and save 90 percent of the costs of a physical event, she said.

Today, her Mountain View, California-based company is three months into its launch, and the platform has not only hosted more than 2,400 events, it attracted 17 venture capital and angel investors who backed Run the World鈥檚 $11 million Series A round of funding announced Thursday.

The Series A is co-led by at and at , and includes participation from 鈥檚 , 鈥檚 , and , as well as a group of existing angel investors.

The new investment brings the total raised by the company to $15 million, Qu said. That includes a seed funding round of $4.3 million led by Andreessen Horowitz with participation by others, including , , and .

Expansion plans

One of the platform’s most popular features is Cocktail Party, a socializing feature in which attendees create eight to 10 meaningful relationships in the span of one hour. Qu said the side conversations happening at conferences and events are the most fruitful, but when someone doesn鈥檛 know anyone else in the room, it鈥檚 hard to strike up a conversation.

鈥淵ou are matched with someone in the room every five minutes,鈥� she added. 鈥淚ntroverts love it because they don鈥檛 have to reach out to each other. Instead of standing around with a drink in your hand–hoping someone approaches you–you are serendipitously matched with someone who might turn out to have the same interests.鈥�

Plans for the new funding include scaling the business to reach new verticals, build out the platform for Android and iOS, invest more in features, and double its team, Qu said.

Run the World has 30 employees and is expected to increase that count by 50 percent by the end of the year, she said.

鈥淏y investing in an engineering team, increasing investment on video, and supporting an international angle, we will continue enabling people to create an event, even if they have never done it before, and to engage with other people,鈥� Qu said.

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