Gardner swag startup bags $150K from Minnesota-based accelerator for bootstrappers

PromoPulse, a Kansas software company that enables promotional product businesses to grow their sales and simplify marketing, announced today it raised $150,000 from the TinySeed accelerator program.

The funding and TinySeed’s collaborative network will fuel PromoPulse’s mission to amplify the sales and marketing of businesses that sell swag — also known as the promotional products industry, said Jason Nokes, founder of  Gardner-based PromoPulse.

“Within the first few months of the TinySeed program I’ve already learned a great deal about how to better run the company and formed tight connections in mastermind groups,” said Nokes. “Many promotional product distributors do little to no marketing, which greatly reduces their chances of sales. There’s a massive, untapped opportunity to help companies grow their sales and marketing of branded merchandise and PromoPulse is meaningfully stepping into that void.”

PromoPulse, which launched in 2019, created sales and marketing software for promotional product companies that buy, brand, and resell “swag,” such as hats, sunglasses, or pens often seen at trade shows at events.

The vast majority of swag companies are small businesses that lack the resources to produce consistent marketing or stay current on tens of thousands of promotional products, said Nokes. PromoPulse’s software helps these distributors gain control of their marketing with powerful automated tools that help drive sales.

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PromoPulse’s branded product marketing service, AMP, helps resellers craft outbound marketing emails, schedule social media campaigns, and collect new leads.

“PromoPulse helps promotional product companies stand out and market themselves,” said Rob Walling, general partner at Minneapolis-based TinySeed, an early-stage investment fund and remote accelerator program that has invested in more than 80 fast-growing, B2B SaaS companies. “We’re excited about PromoPulse’s progress thus far and see big potential for their future.”

PromoPulse is already gaining recognition for its success in growing swag companies’ revenue. It now has partnerships with four of the top 10 resellers in the promotional products industry, including Facilisgroup, AIM, American Solutions for Business, and HALO.

With plans to add more tools leveraging machine learning and artificial intelligence, PromoPulse hopes to become the go-to solution for swag businesses, Nokes said.

“PromoPulse can increase the overall sales growth of promotional products by making marketing tools that are more effective and easier to use,” he said. “Distributors must market their companies to grow and branded product marketing shouldn’t be time-consuming or difficult.”