Rippld, a start-up that provides a professional network for creatives, has landed $78,400 in seed capital that it plans to fuel a private Beta launch this summer.
The 1-year-old firm is creating an online network for creatively inclined professionals to collaborate, post portfolios and share jobs. Lander Coronado-Garcia, Adrian Walker and Wilbert Fobbs III co-founded
Rippld and are building it at the
Detroit Creative Corridor Center in New Center, overseeing a team of seven other people.
Making this possible is a $50,000 microloan from the
Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund, which
Rippld landed last week. The start-up also received a $28,5000 business acceleration grant from the state. Money that will go toward the Beta launch and beyond.
"We will leverage it in our style to A) grow our development team, B) marketing and C) some future research-and-development," Fobbs says.
The private Beta launch will begin on July 9 and continue throughout the summer. The trio plan to focus on the Metro Detroit region first before spreading it across the country and around the world.
"We are definitely looking internationally and creating a density among creatives throughout the U.S.,"
Coronado-Garcia says.
Source: Lander Coronado-Garcia, Adrian Walker and Wilbert Fobbs III, co-founders of Rippld
Writer: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.