Yuvoice Founder Isvari Maranwe Closes $1 Million Lead Angel For Social Media Marketplace

Against long odds and conventional wisdom, Yuvoice, the new social media marketplace that rewards tangible impact, has just closed a $1 million lead angel round. Founder Isvari Maranwe breaks down how it came together — and why the platform is resonating so deeply.

So, congratulations. How does all this feel right now?   

Isvari Maranwe: Insane. Everyone told me getting a $1M angel round on our pre-product idea was never going to happen in this market. Even if we got through the market, it would never be $1M. And even then, it would never happen if we didn’t find a white man to front the company. Yet here we are. (And we had a lot of interest; we got to go with our favorite lead.)

It is rare for a company to raise $1M on an idea alone. Why do you think there’s so much buzz and interest in your platform?   

Isvari Maranwe: People are honestly so fed up with current social media, leaving a massive market gap. Most current consumers view social media as negative. Current platforms suppress voices, have terrible algorithms, are filled with ads, and promote authoritarianism. Plus, many of them have mentally unhealthy structures to the point that now governments are starting to ban them for children. Social media today is neither social, nor media. It is content creator media built for companies and influencers. With bots, AI, and spam taking over most platforms, where do humans go? Where is the delight and the joy in the early internet?

There is also a massive market for activism right now, but it’s not being capitalized on. How do we reward the people who do good in the world, instead of expecting it to be thankless?

Yuvoice answers both of these questions, has a strong profit model, and investors are excited for that, as are we. We bring back real connection and real action to the internet.

What makes Yuvoice different from other social media platforms?   

Isvari Maranwe: The world deserves a global town square with an open marketplace and that space is Yuvoice.

We reward users for impact. This patent-pending innovation (“impact crypto”) is game-changing for the industry. We have a tailored, AI-backed home feed. Our community marketplace is a one-stop shop for movement-building, product sales, and donor/investment acquisition and we have cracked the secret to making activism profitable.

Think Reddit communities, the feed of Twitter in its heyday, and the security of a human-led space, all targeted towards world-changing. Not only does this create a much better experience for users, but it solves the problem where today’s social media isn’t working for investors and keeps sacrificing user experience for ads. We just get to focus on the best user experience possible (with no ads!) and our revenue comes from a strong marketplace and facilitating international transactions.

Plus, we are supported by nonprofit research, feature global news coverage, and have the best algorithms from feed-design to fact-checking. We are social media built by people who grew up on social media and we take all the best parts of existing platforms, add our spin, and have made something revolutionary.

Where did you come up with the idea from?   

Isvari Maranwe: Yuvoice is a perfect culmination of my experiences as an influencer facing issues with current social media, an award-winning attorney with experience in cybersecurity and data privacy, a journalist, a researcher and coder, and a civic education analyst. Rather than one moment, Yuvoice is very much the product of a decade of experiences, research, and expertise where I kept volumes of notes to build all of it into a perfect platform. And the lynchpin idea to reward impact came from my experiences starting a viral nonprofit during the pandemic.

Where did the name “Yuvoice” come from?   

Isvari Maranwe: It is a portmanteau of “Yuv” meaning youth in Sanskrit and “Voice” in English, honoring both of my backgrounds. Also, it of course sounds like “You Voice.” It is the name of a social media company I had hoped to launch when I was 14 years old, so I owned the site name and then it eventually became one years later!

How does the platform use AI? That is such a hot button issue right now.   

Isvari Maranwe: In some very innovative ways to create an amazing, tailored feed, algorithm, and experience. We actually have an AI patent pending. And we use it to support community moderators with targeted tools to create the most impact. But we never replace a personal interaction on the site. We do not use AI chat bots or AI interactions. We are not an AI-content site. We are a human-first, human-led site meant to bring real friendships back to the internet.

Tell us more about your lead angel.   

Isvari Maranwe: The Cummings Family and their foundation are fantastic leaders of mental health and they care deeply about a better world for our children, like Yuvoice does. That is something we really wanted in a lead angel. I really want to shout out Dr. Davena Longshore, who is their Executive Director. Her vision, energy, and strength are what really drew me to them. She is now on our board and having that kind of alignment and support from an angel from day one is priceless and sets us up for long-term success.

Are you open to more investments right now?   

Isvari Maranwe: Maybe. Only from aligned investors. We asked for $1M and we got $1M (and then some). So we’re in a privileged spot to be growing this round only with folks who really get what we’re up to.

Just to prevent any reader confusion, what is the Sentinel by Yuvoice? That’s a different organization, right?   

Isvari Maranwe: Yes. The Sentinel is a global media nonprofit (501(c)(3)) that publishes stories from the humans living through history. The Sentinel is growing the largest citizen journalism team in the world. And it is completely independent of Yuvoice. We have an amazing partnership where the Sentinel provides community moderator support and independent think tank analysis to Yuvoice to keep our platform mentally healthy and socially responsible. Meanwhile, the Yuvoice platform will be featuring some of the Sentinel’s stories.

When can users sign up for Yuvoice?   

Isvari Maranwe: Not yet! But you can reserve a handle at yuvoice.com. We are committed to always taking our time to get feedback at every stage and get it right. We are building a permanent town square for the future, not a five-year social media company. So we will be releasing our platform nonprofit by nonprofit, movement by movement, and business by business before we do a full public release. We want to get this platform perfect, especially for our community leaders.

What advice would you give other founders in your position?   

Isvari Maranwe: Take the best next step. Whether or not you believe in yourself, whether things are difficult on paper or in your mind, just figure out what step you can take next that gives you the greatest odds of success (even if you think it’s just 5%). And take that step.

Throw enough darts at the board that even if you start farther away with poorer quality darts, something will stick. Do not let people tell you that your race, gender, identity, country of origin, disability, or anything else should stop you.

Is there anything else you want us to know?   

Isvari Maranwe: I want to shout out our CTO, Rachelle Trotman. She has done a fantastic job of leading some incredible designs and product development. That’s never easy with any tech project, especially not one of this size. It is a pleasure and honor to work with her.

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