Social-content startup Besomebody snares $1 million in seed funding

Besomebody, an Austin, Texas-based “passion economy” social platform, pulled in $1 million from investors.

The E.W. Scripps company led the round. Besomebody founder Kash Shaikh is a former Proctor & Gamble and GoPro executive.

Besomebody describes itself as a fast growing “motivational” content platform that delivers information to 4 million users from 180 countries every month. It connects people with what it calls “shared passions,” much the way a dating or hobby site connects people with similar likes.

Shaikh said the money will help construct the “World’s Platform for PassionTM.” This is a mobile-based technology that enables users, called “Passionaries,” to engage in their interests “through curated inspirational content; discover people around them who share their passions; and unleash their passions by learning from experts,” Shaikh said.

Shaikh spent 10 years in the trenches at P&G and GoPro, which he left last year to pursue Besomebody.  He said he learned solid lessons from peer-to-peer companies like Airbnb, Uber, and Lyft when designing his technology. Moving content to users will be through Tweets, Facebook, and Instagram photos on subjects like music videos and graffiti murals.

Shaikh believes the disruptive and cutting-edge factors inherent in his yet to be unveiled technology will help usher in a new “economic revolution,” which he called the “passion economy.” He plans to join the fray by delivering specifically tailored content to like-minded people. In other words, keeping enthusiasts in the loop with each other.

“Passion is the most overused, underserved word in human history,” Shaikh said. “Every single one of us knows the power of following our passion, but 99 percent of us don’t go all in on it. A lot of the reasons are internal, and our movement hits those head on. But the systems and structures around us don’t help.”

“The world,” he added, “isn’t organized by passion, and we are changing that.”

Besomebody will officially launch later this summer.