Kerry Washington is increasing her angel funding portfolio, serving as lead investor within the pre-seed spherical of the marriage market Cheersy.
Cheersy, which was based in 2024 by Amy Shack Egan, helps {couples} discover day-of service marriage ceremony coordinators and has raised a complete of $550,000, from different buyers together with Christina Tosi, the founding father of Milk Bar; Jennifer Gilbert, founding father of Save the Date; and Joanna Rosholm, the previous press secretary to First Girl Michelle Obama.
Washington didn’t instantly reply to our request for remark.
Shack Egan mentioned she met Washington by way of the actor’s director of social influence. They each attended a cocktail party in Los Angeles the place Shack Egan struck up a dialog. By the top of the dinner, the director of social influence provided an introduction to Washington as a attainable angel investor. Washington has been making a reputation for herself as an angel investor alongside different Hollywood titans edging their manner into the world of startups.
She’s an investor within the social web site Spill, a Black-owned different to X. She’s additionally backed the consuming dysfunction therapy startup Equip and, based on Pitchbook, has reduce checks into the charity fundraising platform Omaze, the healthcare firm Solv, and was as soon as an investor in The Wing.
“The dinner was a few days after I was supposed to fly home, but I knew I needed to be in that room of power players,” Shack Egan instructed TechCrunch. “I extended my trip and went to the dinner.”
From there, Shack Egan handled the remainder of the fundraising market, an expertise she referred to as difficult. “I didn’t know what I didn’t know. I said yes to everything. Jumped on a flight. Got strung along, told no, and put my foot in my mouth more times than I can count,” she mentioned.
That is Shack Egan’s second enterprise. She additionally based marriage ceremony planning enterprise, Trendy Insurgent, launched in 2015. She based Cheersy as a result of Trendy Insurgent was getting so many requests for day-of marriage ceremony coordination, which means having somebody be sure that the marriage is operating easily the day it occurs.
“Day-of coordination is the most booked wedding planning service, and so I responded to requests for this service we didn’t offer with handpicked recommendations,” she mentioned, including that she then realized that her providing suggestions might merely be constructed right into a market enterprise. The results of that was Cheersy, which, she says, has an analogous mannequin to Airbnb
{Couples} search for vetted matches that match their finances, imaginative and prescient and vibe, looking out by date, value, and specialty. Then, the 2 events can e-book a name and, if all the pieces is a match, the couple can e-book the expertise.
Shack Egan thought of her small enterprise background a power, however mentioned it was not the “easiest pill to swallow” for buyers who have been searching for Large Tech corporations on her resume.
“The fundraising journey can be so lonely and a real knock on your mental health,” she continued.
She joined the Energy to Pitch program, which helped join her with extra folks within the startup world. The corporate will use this contemporary capital to boost the options on the reserving platform, and make some hires, comparable to a consumer expertise designer. Shack Egan additionally needs to up the advertising and marketing finances a bit and usher in a neighborhood supervisor as the corporate seeks to broaden into six new cities within the upcoming months. It’s at the moment provided in New York Metropolis and Hudson Valley.
“I started in this industry in 2015 as an event freelancer,” Shack Egan mentioned. “I know the pain points of this job personally. I love the idea that we’re making the experience of being someone that works in the wedding industry, in such a tough — and often, thankless job — more supported and more fun.”
