Officially closing out an $850,000 second seed round, social networking app and Codal client Hio (formerly Contap) announced an exclusive partnership with Network After Work, the world’s largest networking organization. The announcement precedes the mobile app’s re-launch in July, a project spearheaded by Codal’s design and development teams.
Hio began purely as a social networking platform, one that aimed to usher the business card into the digital era through custom contact sharing. With Hio, users can seamlessly share the contact information of their choosing with just a simple tap of the phone—regardless if the recipient has Hio or not.
The brainchild of founder and CEO Jason Craparo, the idea for Hio emerged from his frustration with the standard business card. “I realized that whenever I met someone new, I didn’t always want to share the same set of contact information. I wanted to customize what I shared with whom: personal cell phone, personal email address and Facebook for a new friend, but a professional email address, LinkedIn and Twitter for a new professional contact.”
And while Hio, together with Codal, delivered that functionality flawlessly, the mobile app eventually evolved into something much more. Its latest use case allows event planners to coordinate and manage events that enhance both the attendee and sponsor experience, with features like push notifications and event performance analytics.
Buttressed by the sizable investment from Network After Work, as well as Codal’s complete refresh of the platform’s user interface, Hio hopes to continue its mission of modernizing the business card.
“Hio is excited to have closed our second seed round and we are looking forward to putting these funds to good use,” said Jason. “We’ll have the opportunity to invest significantly in our partnership with Network After Work, which hosts thousands of events around the country each year. Ensuring we have the technology and marketing to support this key strategic partner is a top priority.”
CEO and co-founder of Codal, Keval Baxi, couldn’t be happier with the partnership as well. “We’re in the business of helping companies scale through digital solutions, so we love hearing success stories like Hio’s. We know this is just the beginning for Jason and his team, and we can’t wait to continue our partnership and take Hio to even loftier heights.”
