Particle raises Series A to accelerate development of AI-powered news app
News is an ecosystem, and one that Particle is deeply invested in. We’re excited to tell you about the partners that are supporting us.
News is hard. A few months ago, we posted about some of the challenges people face when trying to keep up with the news they care about. There’s so much of it, it’s hard to keep up, and the user experience is often cluttered with ads and popups. At Particle, we’re using AI to power a beautiful, personalized, and multi-perspective view of the news that matters the most to you. We are passionate about creating an experience that best connects people with what they care about.
And news isn’t just hard for people trying to follow it; the business of news reporting is also being continuously challenged. That’s why, to achieve our vision, we are committed to working with publishers and media organizations to align incentives between those who report the news and the experience for readers. Today, we’re sharing more about the partners that are critical to this journey.
Funding
Particle is pleased to announce that we have closed a $10.9mm Series A funding round, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. This new investment will enable us to expand our team, strengthen our partnerships with publishers, and prepare for our upcoming US launch. As part of this round, we welcome Michael Mignano to our Board of Directors.
Joining Lightspeed, we are excited to announce that Axel Springer, a global media company whose brands include Business Insider, POLITICO, WELT and BILD, has participated in this round. Their involvement underscores how important strong partnerships are to us.
“We’re thrilled to invest in Particle, whose founders have assembled a talented team with deep expertise in social news consumption and have an ambitious vision for AI-powered news aggregation solutions in partnership with publishers. We believe that sustainable business models in news media must incorporate innovative solutions for AI to empower journalists, enhance audience experiences, and drive digital revenue, and we are proud to back teams building in this space.” Jan Bayer — President News Media USA, Deputy Chairman Axel Springer
Previously, Particle secured a $4.4mm seed round from lead investor Kindred Ventures, alongside Adverb Ventures, Ev Williams, Scott Belsky, and GC&H Investments. We deeply appreciate their continued support and participation in this new funding round.
We are also grateful to welcome several angels who are very special to us, including: Jason Goldman, Vijaya Gadde, Lakshmi Shankar, Bruce Falck, Shane Mac, Jill Bowen, Mohamad Taha, Roger Sippl, and Max Mullen.
Finally, we are pleased to welcome David Brinker and Tony Haile as official advisors to Particle, bringing their extensive expertise in news partnerships to our team.
Publishers
In addition to our new funding, we are delighted to announce that we have established a deal for Reuters to be a source of news content for our service. Particle now subscribes to the Reuters newswire to help deliver current information about topics in the news. Journalists and publishers are at the heart of Particle’s mission, and we feel that it’s crucial to collaborate with them on developing new business models. As we navigate how AI will impact both the future of news consumption and the newsroom, we would love to invite journalists and publishers to be design partners with us, so that we can figure it out together.
Hiring
We are currently hiring for several key roles, including:
If you are passionate about building exceptional user experiences, we would love to hear from you!
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