It was no secret that stealthy Web startup Krush had raised some money—but now we know how much. The Cambridge, MA-based company, led by co-founder and CEO Gina Ashe, has closed $2 million in Series A equity financing, according to a regulatory filing. News of Krush’s financing round (but not the amount) was first reported by Mass High Tech earlier this month.
The investors weren’t disclosed, but the SEC form lists Nashville, TN-based investor Eric Satz as a director of the company alongside the co-founders, and says there are a total of 16 investors. Ashe has said that Boston angel investors and outside institutional investors participated in the round. She pitched the company at the Open Angel Forum in Cambridge in October—and apparently that’s all she needed to start the ball rolling and get some Boston-area buy-in.
I argued last week that sometimes it doesn’t matter how much money you raise, or even what you’re building, so long as you’re alive. That’s because Ashe survived a horrific car accident back in August that killed one person and injured four. She is lucky to be alive. After surgery and months of rehab, she has been walking without crutches for a couple of weeks, and stands as an inspiration to many entrepreneurs in the community.
Now $2 million in financing is a good start, but early next year we’ll see what Krush is really about. From what I understand, it is an online platform that mixes elements of social shopping, recommendations, crowdsourcing, and gaming. The broad idea seems to be that young people who’ve grown up on the Web can change the way products are designed, manufactured, shared, and sold—all through their own social influence.
