Venn closes $100 million to connect neighbors to neighborhoods

Brooklyn-based Venn closed a $60 million Series B round, bringing the company’s total funding to $100 million. Founded in 2017, Venn looks to create a sense of belonging for people in their homes and neighborhoods via its Neighborhood Platform, an operating system for a neighborhood. “Equal parts tool kit and road map, our localized app gives your residents meaningful ways to connect with neighbors and really become a part of their neighborhood.”

It currently operates in several communities including Tel Aviv, Kansas City, and Berlin with plans to expand to five more cities in the US in 2021.

“Loneliness was an epidemic long before COVID-19. Over the past 30 years, it’s become easier to connect with strangers around the world than our neighbors around the corner. Remember when we used to be able to walk down the street and run into our friends? Or go to the grocery store and be greeted by name? We’ve lost touch with something elemental and vital for our lives and progress: the idea of ‘Neighborhood.’ This is the problem that Venn was built to solve. We are using the power of community to build better neighborhoods for neighbors, property developers, and local businesses alike, and our work is more important now than ever before.” – Or Bokobza, Co-Founder and CEO, Venn.

“Over the years in our neighborhoods, we’ve learned that individual and community levels of loneliness and connection are highly accurate predictors of people’s likelihood to stay and put down roots. And we’ve learned that Venn can support three behaviors to improve people’s sense of connection: real-life social links between neighbors; support for the local economy; and civic/community service. Ultimately, a neighborhood is made not by people who move there, but by the people who stay. We’re in the business of making people want to stay and participate in their neighborhoods long-term.” – Chen Avni, Co-Founder, and CPO, Venn.

“You don’t need data to know that people crave connection, but Venn’s numbers speak volumes. People want to live in communities that make them feel that they belong, and Venn has found a way to achieve that through its technology, expertise, and experiences. We aren’t just investing in a business–we’re investing in people–and we’re honored to lead this round with Venn as it continues to fulfill its mission.” – Dovi Frances, Managing Partner at Group 11.