As the U.S. presidential election approaches, one category of startups is gaining increasing visibility: Voting-related apps.
Recently a flurry of startups and non-profits have cropped up to help make registration easier for voters and provide them with information about candidates and ballot measures. There’s Brigade, a company co-founded by Sean Parker; VotePlz, co-founded by Sam Altman, president of startup accelerator Y Combinator; Vote.org, previously known as Long Distance Voter; and Voter, which matches users with political candidates that match their stances on issues.
And those are just a few examples. But why is the tech industry suddenly taken with civic engagement after years of building copycat photo apps and shiny gadgets that connect to our smartphones for no obvious reason?
According to Matt Mahan, Brigade’s CEO, it’s in part because the tech industry has, by now, built pretty good ways to share photos, so it’s now taking on more complex challenges like transportation, financial services, and political participation.
And there’s of course all the excitement during a presidential election cycle. “The presidential race is the Olympics of politics,” Mahan told Fortune. “Everyone wants to do something tied to that massive event.”
But whatever the motivation, Mahan thinks it’s a good thing that many people, especially in the tech industry, are working on voter registration and participation. And their efforts seem to be paying off. For example, Brigade’s users have now sent more than 630,000 personal invitations to friends to encourage them to vote on specific issues, and VotePlz has registered more than 75,000 voters and helped 200,000 voters check their registration status.
The next challenge for these startups will be to stick it out for the long term—civic engagement doesn’t end with next month’s presidential election. “This is not a two, or four, or six-year thing,” says Mahan.
The good news, however, is that someday we’ll be fully interacting with elected officials and government digitally when it comes to voting or communicating with those officials representing us, he believes. Now that’s a cause I can get behind.
Kia Kokalitcheva
This is the Startup Sunday edition of Data Sheet, Fortune’s daily tech newsletter, edited by reporter Kia Kokalitcheva. You may reach me via Twitter, email, or an entirely new platform that your startup developed. Feedback welcome.
Everyone's Talking About
Prelude Fertility. As serial entrepreneur Martin Varsavsky's seventh startup, Prelude wants to be the ultimate fertility planning company, handling the entire process from egg freezing to implanting the embryos. The company already has $200 million to fund the business, and has purchased a majority stake in a large in vitro fertilization clinic and its affiliated frozen donor egg bank. (Forbes)
Unicorn Watch
New York doubles down on Airbnb with new law. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed into law a new bill that imposes steep fines for advertising short-term rentals that don't follow New York City's regulations. (Fortune)
Two new Lyft execs arrive as two depart. Lyft's CMO and communications chief depart as a new VP of marketing and the company's first strategy chief join the company. (Fortune)
Uber now has more than 40 million monthly active riders worldwide. On average, these riders spent $50 per month on Uber rides, CEO Travis Kalanick said this week. (Fortune)
Zenefits tries again. As it continues its efforts to leave its regulatory troubles behind, the HR software company unveiled a new version of its service, which now includes third-party apps. (Recode) (Bloomberg)
The Week in Startups
Klout Founder Tackles the Local Activities Market with a New Startup (Fortune)
Why Heal Is Bringing Back the Doctor’s House Call (Fortune)
20th Century Fox Just Poured Big Money Into Virtual Reality Startup Baobab Studios (Fortune)
Meet the 27-Year-Old Founder Building the Future of E-Commerce (Fortune)
Board of Hampton Creek Said to Be Investigating Buyback Allegations (TechCrunch)
Slack’s Rapid Growth Slows as It Hits 1.25M Paying Work Chatters (TechCrunch)
Time Out Acquires Events Discovery and Booking Platform YPlan for as Little as £1.6M (TechCrunch)
Weebly Hacked, 43 Million Credentials Stolen (TechCrunch)
Leanplum Raises $29M Series C Round for Its Mobile Marketing Platform (TechCrunch)
Zumper Raises a $17.6M Series B to Expand Beyond Apartment Searches (TechCrunch)
Words of Wisdom
"The final thing I’ll say is that government will never run the way Silicon Valley runs because, by definition, democracy is messy." — President Barack Obama, on why he can't run the country exactly like a startup CEO. (The White House)
One More Thing
South of Market: The Musical. A 75-minute stage play, this weekend in San Francisco, that parodies all that is ridiculous about the tech industry while highlighting the serious issues it must not ignore. (VentureBeat)
