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Pigeonly isn't accepting new investments

Pigeonly’s deadline was April 1, 2018

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Pigeonly

The affordable way to search, find & communicate with an incarcerated loved one
Social Impact Veteran Founders B2C Subscription Apps
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$122,647
Raised
155
Investors
Successfully funded and closed on April 1, 2018.
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Investors in Pigeonly also invested in these companies. View more
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Co-investors
Social Capital
VC firm based in Palo Alto, California.
Chamath Palihapitiya founded venture capital firm Social Capital in 2011. The firm has $1.2B AUM and uses sophisticated data techniques to evaluate investments and coach portfolio companies on growth. Portfolio companies include: Slack, Yammer, Intercom, Carta, Box, Relativity Space, SurveyMonkey.
Social Capital also invested in:
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Kapor Capital
VC Firm, Oakland
Kapor Capital invests in seed stage startups that close gaps of access & economic opportunity, encouraging companies to make D&I a part of their DNA. Notable investments: Twilio, Uber, AngelList, Asana, Via, Bitly, Life360, and many others.
Kapor Capital also invested in:
Companies
Y Combinator
The leading startup accelerator
Y Combinator is the world's top startup incubator and accelerator, known for producing breakthrough companies such as Airbnb, Twitch, Dropbox, Reddit, Instacart, Stripe, Coinbase and many others. YC has produced 102 companies worth $150M+ and 21 companies worth $1B+, with a total portfolio value of $155B+.
Y Combinator also invested in:
Companies
Pitch Updates 1 Reviews 41
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Closed on April 1, 2018. Information may not be up-to-date. Campaign closed on April 1, 2018. Information displayed may not be up-to-date.

Documents

Republic (OpenDeal Portal LLC, CRD #283874) is hosting this Reg CF securities offering by Pigeonly, Inc.. View the official SEC filing and all updates:
Official SEC Logo Form C SEC.gov
Company documents
Pigeonly Crowd SAFE Pigeonly Form C.pdf
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Hear from some of the 155 investors in Pigeonly


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Deal highlights

  • Over the past 4 years Pigeonly became the largest independent prison services provider
  • Connecting 100k + prison inmates on the Pigeonly platform
  • Secured $5M in VC funding from well known Silicon Valley investors
  • Saving families over $8MM in predatory phone fees
  • 10,000+  active subscribers
  • $175k+ in monthly revenue
  • Backed by Y Combinator, 500 Startups, Social Capital, Kapor Capital, and others

A $4 Billion Problem

Almost 10% of the American population (or 27 million people) have at least one friend or family member that is currently serving time in a US prison or jail. This group collectively spends over $4 billion per year financially supporting their inmate.  Not only is the cost too expensive for most Americans to afford,  it is also overcomplicated and inconvenient to maintain regular communication with their incarcerated loved one.


Data Powered Solutions for Inmate Services:

Pigeonly is the leader in providing families with easy to use, low-cost inmate communication services, disrupting the predatory billion dollar prison inmate services/communication industry.

We provide people with a simple to use consumer facing website that allows subscribers to search, find and send printed photos, letters, greeting cards, postcards and even online articles right from any cell phone, tablet or computer with a few clicks of a button. We also provide a low cost VoIP phone solution for expensive prison phone calls.  Our proprietary technology, Haystac™, is the underlying technology that allows us to identify inmates across any Federal, State or County penal system.

How Our Core Intellectual Property Works:

Haystac™

The core of our business is an inmate API called Haystac™ which searches and organizes thousands of Federal, State, and County records per day; extracting the information needed to identify and determine the location of 1MM + inmates across 17K prison facilities in real time. 

This makes it possible for our users to easily search, find and connect with their incarcerated loved one using one or all of our 6 consumer facing products.


Subscription Business Model:

We’re tackling a $4 billion market comprised of all related inmate services. Unlike our competitors, we are an independent service provider not reliant on having contracts with prison facilities. This allows us to stay mission focused while meeting the needs of our subscribers (the family and friends of prison inmates).  

We have a subscription business model which allows customers to subscribe to one of three plans based on their unique needs and how often they communicate with their inmate. On average our subscription profit margins are 60-80%, and our goal is to reach 250k subscribers over the next 24 months, with a target of $40 Million in gross revenue.

  • “Choose 2” Plan
    For $7.99/month subscribers can choose any 2 of our 6 services.

  • “Choose 4” Plan
    For $14.99/month subscribers can choose any 4 of our 6 services.

  • All Access Plan
    For $19.99/month subscribers get access to all 6 services.


Our Customers


Business Traction


Consistent year-over-year growth since 2013

With subscribers in over 88 countries we've built a reputation by helping families stay connected during the most difficult times in their lives, providing the support studies confirm aid prisoners post-release outcomes and lower recidivism rates.

Since launch, Pigeonly has maintained constant and steady revenue growth with subscribers in the US and internationally. Revenue growth has been an average of 20% year-over-year since 2013.

“The above projections for 2018 are based on the Company’s historical data and rely solely upon the management’s judgement. No third party has assisted with these projections and investors should not rely on them as they are merely a type of forward looking statement.”

Our future plans are focused on expanding our footprint beyond the Federal prison system to the 1.8 million inmates that are in State prisons and country jails. Our plan also include introducing a payments product that will allow families to to send their inmate money for little to no cost, a solution to the high money transfer fees.

  • Pigeonly now supports every Federal, State and County jail in the United States, over 17k facilities.
  • We process over 2 million phone minutes and ship over 100k photos per month
  • We are expecting an 50% increase in our daily subscribers and revenue in 2018

A letter from the founder...

Hello, it’s important that you know how passionate I am about providing families with an affordable, easy way to stay in touch with an incarcerated loved one.

It was my entrepreneurial spirit that often led me to new opportunities, I started and sold my first company when was 19 years old. However it was also my desire to attain the American dream on my terms that took me down the wrong path and at 23  I was sentenced to federal prison for the illegal distribution of 3,000 kg of marijuana. 

It was this life changing experience that showed me first hand how difficult and expensive it was to stay connected with my family and friends on the outside and how inmates in isolation led to higher recidivism rates, negatively impacting communities.  With no other options I decided to build a solution that would positively affect the lives of people no one else was paying attention to — inmates and their families. The idea of Pigeonly was born.

Today, (5 years later) we have customers in 88 countries and have grown Pigeonly into one of the country’s largest independent inmate services providers, saving families over $2 million a year in high phone fees. Needless to say, we’re excited about the new products we plan to introduce and the heights we’ll reach in the future. My team and I are always looking forward but are also extremely proud of what we have built and accomplished to date.

I’ll always be humbled by our beginnings and, more importantly, by people like you who make a choice to use and invest in Pigeonly and the impact we'll continue to make.

Deal terms


Valuation cap

$15,000,000

The maximum valuation at which your investment converts into equity shares or cash.
Learn more

Discount

0%

If a trigger event for Pigeonly occurs, the discount provision gives investors equity shares (or equal value in cash) at a reduced price.
Learn more.

Minimum investment

$100

The smallest investment amount that Pigeonly is accepting.
Learn more

Maximum investment

$50,000

The largest investment amount that Pigeonly is accepting.
Learn more

Funding goal

$250K

The maximum amount the offering can raise is $250K.
Learn more

Deadline
Pigeonly needs to reach their minimum funding goal before the deadline ( ). If they don’t, all investments will be refunded.
Learn more
Type of security

Crowd SAFE

A SAFE allows an investor to make a cash investment in a company, with rights to receive certain company stock at a later date, in connection with a specific event. · Learn more

How it works

Documents

Republic (OpenDeal Portal LLC, CRD #283874) is hosting this Reg CF securities offering by Pigeonly, Inc.. View the official SEC filing and all updates:
Official SEC Logo Form C SEC.gov
Company documents
Pigeonly Crowd SAFE Pigeonly Form C.pdf

Bonus perks

In addition to your Crowd SAFE, you'll receive perks for investing in Pigeonly.
Invest
$100
Receive
  • One month free Pigoenly "All Access" plan for you or a friend
Invest
$250
Receive
  • Everything included above plus an exclusive Pigeonly Investor T-shirt
Invest
$500
Receive
  • Everything included above plus an exclusive Pigeonly Investor Hoodie
Invest
$1,000
Receive
  • 6 months free Pigeonly "All Access" plan for you or a friend and exclusive Pigeonly Investor T-shirt and Hoodie
Invest
$5,000
Receive
  • 12 months free Pigeonly "All Access" plan for you or a friend and exclusive Pigeonly Investor T-shirt and Hoodie
Invest
$10,000
Receive
  • 12 months free Pigeonly "All Access" plan for you or a friend and lunch with the founders in Las Vegas
Invest
$25,000
Receive
  • Fly to Las Vegas ($500 flight value) and have lunch with the Pigeonly team.
1 investor
Invest
$50,000
Receive
  • Join Pigeonly product advisory board.
  • Limited (1 left of 2)

Why others invested

See all reviews (41) See all (41)

I am an x-felon and now mentor women in prison. I understand the power of this service.

Profile picture of Mary Forsythe
Mary Forsythe
Active investor
about 8 years ago

I believe that it is very important for loved ones to stay in touch with incarcerated loved ones. People do screw up in life but life should go on.

Profile picture of Russ Peterson
Russ Peterson
Active investor
about 8 years ago

I have met people who are currently struggling with this problem and this project needs to succeed. Poor people need communication too

Profile picture of Hearther Overstreet
Hearther Overstreet
Active investor
about 8 years ago

Endorsed by

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Technori

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About Pigeonly

Legal Name
Pigeonly, Inc.
Founded
Jun 2013
Form
Delaware Corporation
Employees
18
Website
pigeon.ly
Social Media
Headquarters
Google Map location of of Pigeonly
701 East Bridger Avenue , Las Vegas, NV
Headquarters
701 East Bridger Avenue, Las Vegas, NV, United States 89101

Pigeonly Team
Everyone helping build Pigeonly, not limited to employees

Profile picture of Frederick Hutson
Frederick Hutson
Founder / Head of product
Featured in Superheroes · Read
A born entrepreneur, that launched and sold his first business at the age of 19 while on active duty in the Air Force. Passionate about building products that solve real problems
Profile picture of Cortnei Howard
Cortnei Howard
Director of Customer Service
With nearly 10 years of management experience, with both management and customer support roles at Capital One and Bank of America. Responsible for driving customer satisfaction across all company channels and products.
Profile picture of Alfonzo Brooks
Alfonzo Brooks
Co-founder / Head of Fulfillment
Has worked for a homeland security strategy unit in the Air Force. A hands-on leader that actively managed teams of over 20 personnel. Maintained the inventory of high-level assets and created deployment processes for critical missions.
Profile picture of Marc Ford
Marc Ford
Head of Engineering
Passionate full-stack web developer, with 10+ years experience building production applications. Worked with a diverse mix of technologies, infrastructures, and personality types. Studied computer science at USF.
Profile picture of Ruigie Bilaro
Ruigie Bilaro
Head of User Experience & Design
Detail oriented, energetic, team engaged designer with 9+ years of experience in the design field. Extremely proficient with the Adobe suit & Sketch for marketing assets + rapid prototyping wireframes and design.
2 more team members
Frederick Hutson
Founder / Head of product
Cortnei Howard
Director of Customer Service
Alfonzo Brooks
Co-founder / Head of Fulfillment
Marc Ford
Head of Engineering
Ruigie Bilaro
Head of User Experience & Design

Press

How An Ex-Inmate's Startup Is Improving Prisoners' Lives ...
Fast Company
·
Oct 30, 2014

Entrepreneurs often tap personal experience for startup ideas. In Frederick Hutson's case, that experience was incarcerat...

Released From Prison, and Starting a Company
Nytimes
·
Jul 16, 2014

Mr. Hutson was released in March 2012 from a halfway house in Tampa, Fla., where he had been working on the first version...

Meet the Ex-Con Who Founded a Startup to Connect Inmates ...
Vice Vice

On this episode of 'Daily VICE,' we talk to the founder of Pigeonly, an app that helps inmates and their families stay co...

Ex-con launches startup aimed at inmates
CNNMoney

He filled his days with business planning, even hand-drawing spreadsheets on plain paper from the law library. Upon relea...

How This Man Built A $3M Business A Year After Four Years...
Forbes Forbes

Frederick Hutson is a man who sees business opportunities in everything. By his own admission, this doesn't always work o...

Pigeonly's CEO helps prison inmates
USA TODAY USA TODAY

CLOSE LAS VEGAS - Not far from the slot machines and neon lights of the Strip, a few dozen tech companies hammer away at ...

Show all
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Pigeonly

Pigeonly successfully raised $122,647 from 155 investors on April 1, 2018
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Stephen, Tim, Laurence, Stanley, Elliott, and 150 others invested. 41 Reviews
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