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In Post-Election Activism Surge, 'Countable' Startup Raises $2 Million

The representative-contacting company has received its first venture capital injection.

Countable, a civic tech company known for helping constituents contact their congressional representatives, has raised $2 million in seed funding.

The lead investor on the round was Canaan Partners, according to the Wall Street Journal. Joydeep Bhattacharyya, an investor at Canaan, wrote in a blog post that he sees a lot of potential for growth at the company. It already offers an embeddable widget for contacting representatives, bill and issue tracking services, and custom solutions for local representatives.

“There are a few core buckets in every human’s mindshare: 1) family and friends; 2) professional network; 3) causes we are passionate about,” Bhattacharyya wrote in the blog post. “While Facebook owns the first category and LinkedIn the second, the third is wide open. To date there has been no digital home for a discourse on issues and causes that ultimately affect policies.”

The Oakland, Calif.-based company has seen a massive surge in interest since the presidential election, he said. The service has sent 2.7 million messages to Congress on behalf of users since inauguration day. Overall, the company has grown 2,000 percent.

Canaan, based in Menlo Park, Calif., manages more than $3 billion in capital and maintains a portfolio of nearly 100 companies.

Ben Miller is the associate editor of data and business for Government Technology. His reporting experience includes breaking news, business, community features and technical subjects. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in journalism from the Reynolds School of Journalism at the University of Nevada, Reno, and lives in Sacramento, Calif.