Bumpers (Bumpers.fm), a mobile app that lets people create and discover podcasts, announced today it raised $1 million in seed funding. The round was led by Spark Capital, with participation from Founders Collective and strategic angels including Evan Williams. Bumpers’ easy-to-use iOS app enables anyone to easily record, edit and share high-quality podcasts.
“People listen [to podcasts] in all sorts of scenarios, and it’s one of the fastest growing new media categories right now,” said Bumpers CEO, Ian Ownbey. “Unlike vlogging and traditional podcasts, Bumpers lets people focus solely on storytelling, and makes the experience feel more spontaneous, less scripted and more relatable. In a short time, we’ve been able to grow a passionate community of creators and this new funding will allow us to continue innovating on our app, which is the easiest tool for creating and editing a podcast.”
The Bumpers iOS app provides users with a user-friendly and intuitive tool that enables anyone to edit their recordings without expensive equipment or a studio. Bumpers’ simple editing tools include automatic background cancellation, automatic voice equalizer and the ability to add segue music to recordings. Along with the editing tools, Bumpers features a new prompt each week to help inspire podcasters’ ideas.
“Ian opened my eyes to the lagging and antiquated way people are producing podcasts,” said Kevin Thau, General Partner at Spark Capital. “Bumpers has simplified the production process tremendously and is redefining what a podcast is and how it is created. With this new app, podcasting has the potential to shape how we create and consume news and entertainment. I am delighted to be a part of this journey and look forward to seeing how podcasting will evolve now that Bumpers is here.”
The Bumpers team is also in the midst of producing original content in its podcast series,”Bad Asian.” The comical yet informative series helmed by Amy Cao, will explore the history, stereotypes and challenges of Asian-Americans. And while people can focus on having fun while creating podcasts, Ownbey vows Bumpers will “continue to make creation easier, better and more expressive.”
Bumpers investor, Evan Williams, Medium’s chief executive officer and co-founder of Twitter, said, “Bumpers is a brilliant execution of a simple idea. Perhaps the future.”
About Bumpers
Bumpers is a social podcasting app that makes it easy for people to create and discover audio blogs. Founded in 2015, Bumpers is reimagining the way audio content is created and is bringing easy-to-use tools for developing and editing podcasts on mobile.
