Karen Houghton of Atlanta Tech Village and Atlanta Ventures closed an oversubscribed pre-seed round of venture capital to launch a new financial technology (FinTech) platform for nonprofit management.
ATLANTA - (April 26, 2021) - Infinite Giving, Atlanta’s newest startup leveraging financial technology to serve those on the frontlines making the world a better place, is proud to announce it has closed an oversubscribed pre-seed round of $500,000 in just six weeks. Founded by startup champion Karen Houghton of the Atlanta Tech Village and Atlanta Ventures, Infinite Giving is on a mission to help nonprofits invest, endow, and liquidate stocks easily with software that automates their investment strategy and grows their giving.
“Over the last eight years building the Atlanta Tech Village, I've supported hundreds of startups, advised dozens of entrepreneurs, and served as a Venture Partner with Atlanta Ventures. I love the tech world, but my love for nonprofits never left me,” Houghton said. “Infinite Giving was born from my desire to leverage modern, financial technology to grow the world’s giving. We are the first investment platform designed specifically for nonprofits.”
Prior to joining the Atlanta Tech Village, Houghton founded a nonprofit supporting coffee growing communities in Rwanda. “I loved the people, the work, and the mission, but I started to experience burnout,” Houghton explained. “The endless fundraising cycle and scarcity mindset was exhausting. I started looking for something different, which led me to the tech ecosystem and eventually venture capital. Now I’m honored to have the support of the Atlanta community as I cross to the Founder side once again and scale a technology company that is focused on supporting nonprofits and growing the world’s giving.”
The pre-seed round for Infinite Giving was led by David Cummings of Atlanta Ventures along with tech luminaries including:
- Kyle Porter of SalesLoft
- David Lightburn, President of Atlanta Tech Village
- Eric Spett, Founder of Terminus
- Craig Hyde, Founder of Rigor
- Jim Berryhill, Founder of DecisionLink
- Araya Mesfin, Senior VP at UBS
- Robert Swarthout, Founder of Shootproof
- Ashish Thakur, Executive Director, Atlanta CEO Council
- John Houghton, LA based investor and entrepreneur
- Rachel Lockman, CEO and Founder Rachel Lockman Consulting
- Cecil B. Wright III, former Regional President of A.G. Edwards and Wells Fargo Advisors
- Alok Deshpande, Founder and CEO of SmartPath Financial
Atlanta Ventures is proud to invest in Karen. We believe in her, the business, and the mission to leverage modern, financial technology to grow the world's giving," David Cummings, serial investor and entrepreneur stated.
"We’ve had over 1,000 startups at Atlanta Tech Village and Karen played a tremendous role in building our community from a vision into America’s 4th largest tech hub," said Cummings. "Over the next 10 years, our goal is to create 20,000 more high-paying tech jobs in Atlanta by way of startups that start and grow in our city. Infinite Giving will now be part of that success.”
Infinite Giving is being designed intentionally for ease-of-use, high transparency, and an automated approach for compliance, reporting, and competitive returns. The platform’s passive investment engine is specifically for nonprofits to manage their money with a diversified and rebalanced portfolio of low-cost index funds. Nonprofits including educational and philanthropic charities can use Infinite Giving to invest reserve funds and capital campaigns, manage endowments, crowdfund micro endowments, and receive stock donations.
Houghton is recently joined by seasoned Co-Founder and CTO, Seth Radman. Seth Radman is a tech entrepreneur and Georgia Tech alum who has started and grown multiple successful startups. He has built over 40 web and mobile apps and has been featured on the App Store 100+ times, including Apple’s App of the Day.
Seth was previously the Founder & CEO of Crescendo, an AI music training app used by over 1 million musicians across the world that was acquired by Ultimate Guitar in 2019. During the pandemic, he created Upbeat Music App to help musicians stay connected with real-time virtual collaboration. Seth has made speaking appearances at TEDx and SXSW, and he serves as a startup coach and advisor to startups in Atlanta and throughout the southeast.
“I’m thrilled to join Karen as co-founder & CTO of Infinite Giving. It is especially exciting that we get to amplify the impact of nonprofits through our technology that makes it easy to automate their investment strategies. I decided to partner with Karen because of her extensive background in the nonprofit space, her incredible work ethic and track record, and her passion for helping people. From building a primary school in Rwanda to growing Atlanta Tech Village from the ground up, Karen is an absolute rockstar. I’m happy to be working together in support of a great mission — to help nonprofits succeed.”
David Lightburn, President of Atlanta Tech Village, startup advisor, and angel investor says,
"I'm excited to be investing in Karen and Seth at Infinite Giving. There's so much to like - incredible team, huge growing market with plenty of tailwinds, and an opportunity to make the world an infinitely better place by increasing the capacity of nonprofits to maximize their impact."
About Infinite Giving
Founded in 2021, Infinite Giving is the first investment platform designed specifically for nonprofits. Its mission is to leverage modern, financial technology to grow the world’s giving by helping nonprofits invest, endow, and liquidate stocks easily with software that automates their investment strategy. Infinite Giving is headquartered in the Atlanta Tech Village, America’s 4th largest tech hub. For more information, visit InfiniteGiving.com.