F-U-N-D-E-D: Silicon Valley gives rare blessing to software for church - CNET
Summary
In many ways, Steffensens company is like a Salesforce.com for churches, providing Internet-based software to help pastors pay their bills, track expenses, communicate with parishioners and organize volunteers all via a mobile app, if they want it. The new cash, which is a drop in a bucket compared with the tens of millions of dollars other startups often raise, will help ChurchDesk expand its presence throughout Europe. Religious groups usually communicate with their members through daily or weekly bulletins filled with community info, Bible verses and any other news pastors want to share with their flocks. Still, Jackson acknowledges that his decision to back a company that serves customers whose traditional income stream has come once a week via a basket -- and maybe a little guilt -- did raise some questions. Asked if hed ever consider investing in a startup in the religion biz, Sam Altman -- president of Y Combinator and an investor in companies such as AirBnB and DropBox -- didnt rule it out.
