Root announced today that it has raised $9 million in seed funding to build a next-gen social platform, which offers customizable apps designed towards building and maintaining large communities. Headline Ventures and Konvoy Ventures led the round, with Day One Ventures, Untamed Ventures, Crunchyroll founder Kun Gao, Clark Valberg and Jack Dunlop among others participating. The company plans to launch the closed beta for the app soon.
Root as a platform is notable for its customizability and app framework. Servers can have a number of features and apps specific to the community. For example, at launch Root will have first party apps such as a Raid Planner for MMO communities and a Task Tracker. These apps integrate directly within Root, meaning players don’t have to access third-party software in order to keep track of their community needs, and anyone who uses JavaScript can build their communities own apps.
Jesse Dietrichson, founder and CEO of Root, told GamesBeat in an interview that Root began as a way to solve pain points within large communities, such MMO guilds. “What success means for one community is so drastically different for another community. When you look at platforms like Discord and so on, the only thing that communities are getting for success is basic chatting features… I believe, deeply, that every community’s needs are different depending on the community you’re in.”
Building the next-gen chat platform
In addition to the app framework, Root is also built slightly different from other chat apps. It offers features such as file folders, a tab feature to access multiple servers and a souped-up chat UI. Dietrichson told GamesBeat said these features help solve some of the aforementioned pain points. “How do you organize and make sure you’re seeing what you need to see? We wanted to tackle that problem. I think web browsers solved this problem so elegantly and everyone in the world knows how to use a web browser.”
Content creator Jack “CouRage” Dunlop, an early investor in Root, said in a statement, “I’ve spent years building a community around gaming, so I’ve seen firsthand what works and what doesn’t. When Jesse walked me through what he and the team were building, it just clicked. Root is redefining how communities work and I’m excited to be an early investor in Jesse’s vision. I’m looking forward to my viewers getting into Root and seeing everything it has to offer.”
Matthew Brown, VP at Headline Ventures, added, “Root is that rare generational leap—the kind of shift in platform thinking that doesn’t come around often. It’s not just a better version of what’s out there—it’s a complete reimagination of how online communities organize, grow, and thrive. For us, Root represents a unique opportunity to support a team building foundational infrastructure for the future of digital connection. We’re incredibly excited to be part of what’s next.”
Dietrichson told GamesBeat, “Root is hyper-focused on community. We want communities that are working together, that are trying to grow, that need help with other tools that are today going to other platforms — we want those communities to thrive on Root. We want these many-to-many, growing communities to be successful on Root. It’s more than just chatting, and that’s what we’re really excited for people to get their hands on.”
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