Abstract Announces $2.5 Million Raise and Welcomes New Advisors to the Company

Los Angeles, CA: Abstract welcomes renowned industry experts to the advisory board and has announced a $2.5 million raise from notable investors, such as Amplify, Stage Venture Partners, WndrCo, Motivate Venture Capital, Vitalize Venture Capital, Bridge Investments, Deck Point Capital, Mana Ventures, DayDream Ventures, Plug & Play, Redbird Ventures, Billy Draper (Path Ventures), Dan Offner (Founder of O&A Legal and General Counsel for Oculus’ Acquisition), Hon. Tony Coelho (Former Congressman, House Majority Whip, and primary author for the American Disabilities Act), Saikat Chakrabarti (Founding Engineer at Stripe), Jarl Mohn (Former CEO of NPR News, Former President of MTV, & Founder of E! Entertainment), and Carol Costello (Former Anchor of CNN Newsroom).

Patrick Utz, CEO of Abstract, states “We are excited to bolster our advisory board with renowned minds in California policy, such as Chris Micheli, and brilliant leaders in tech like Nick Allen from Snap. This, paired with the capital we raised from investors who backed Airtable and Robinhood, will help guide our path towards increasing government transparency, and making lobbying accessible to all.”

Abstract was co-founded by Patrick Utz, Matthew Chang and Mohammed Hayat in 2020 to bring much needed innovation to the government affairs industry. Abstract enables government affairs professionals to search and set alerts for bills, analyze documents, take realtime notes, communicate with teammates, and collaborate with clients and organizations.

Abstract has grown their team and attracted advisors such as Chris Micheli (Founder of Aprea & Micheli Inc.), Jack Brody (VP Core Product at Snap Inc.), Joshua Tauberer (Founder of GovTrack.us), Jim Goodman (Founder of Ticketmaster), Ryan Kelly (Chief Communications Officer at Recursion and 40 under 40 for AdAge), Lucas Dickey (Co-Founder of Fernish), Jose Cornejo (Founder of Cornejo Strategies), Alex Torres (Director of Government Relations at Bay Area Council), Adele Rom (Former VP of Human Resources at JPMorgan Chase & Co, and Former Head of People-Ops at Riot Games), Rex McArthur (Senior Data Scientist at Lyft), Dr. David Choi (Chair of LMU Entrepreneurship), Dr. Andrew Forney (Artificial Intelligence CS Professor at LMU), Aziz Hayat (Partner at 308 Capital), Nick Allen (Founding Product Designer at Snap Inc.), Jason Kiesel (CSO, Rock Solid; Former CEO, CitySourced (acquired)), and Alon Schwartz (Co-Founder at Trellis).

Lucas Dickey, Co-Founder of Fernish, shares his excitement, “I originally invested in Abstract as an advisor because I strongly believe in their mission to democratize access to legislative data to further drive engagement by concerned constituents. I'm excited to see where Pat, Matt, and Mo take things over the years ahead. Govtech is a double bottom-line investment, and I'm excited by both return profiles Abstract will provide!”

Since its founding, Abstract has worked with over 55 organizations across California, including Snap Inc., Capitol Advisors Group, LLC, Central City Association of Los Angeles, Leda Health, Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce, Southern California Biomedical Council, Orange County Business Council, and Ceres.

“Abstract has transformed our ability to track and engage with legislation, expanding Ceres' ability to mobilize the private sector in support of ambitious climate, clean energy, and clean transportation policies. It is intuitive to use and consolidates all of the legislative detail and data we need in one place.” Sarah Sachs (Ceres)

In the coming months, Abstract is excited to welcome more users and continue empowering stakeholders with the tools they need to effectively participate in the legislative process.

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‍About Abstract: Not only is it difficult to track and find information regarding legislation, existing workflows are manual and outdated. Abstract enables government affairs professionals (i.e. lobbyists) to search & set alerts for over 325k bills, analyze documents using proprietary Abstract classifiers, take realtime notes with built-in version tracking, communicate with teammates internally, and collaborate with external clients and organizations. Founded in 2020, the company serves government affairs professionals across California. To learn more, visit abstract.us, or email us at hey@abstract.us!