Summerville, S.C. – Today, SCRA announces a $200,000 SC Launch, Inc. investment in 6AM City. The Greenville-based company was accepted into SCRA’s entrepreneurial program, SC Launch, in 2018.
6AM City is an audience development company in the local media space, and has developed a disruptive technology to curate, package and deliver hyper-local content via daily newsletters targeted to its six markets in the Southeast. The company engages local communities by creating new ways to consume, participate and share local content. 6AM also delivers measurable data to their advertising clients. With the ability to rapidly deploy to new markets, the company plans to continue expansion into more than ten markets in 2019. Currently, the brand serves more than 175,000 subscribers across six cities, is adding about 1.25 highly-skilled employees a month, and on-track to achieve $2.5 million in revenue this year. The investment will be used to support technology development that will position the company to be more defensible and scalable, by increasing operational efficiencies that add value to both the readers and advertisers.
“The buy-in and support from our local audience, advertisers and investors has really positioned us for growth and the ability to better serve our communities,” said Ryan Heafy, 6AM’s Chief Operating Officer.
Ryan Johnston, 6AM’s Chief Executive Officer added, “The investment from local angels, Venture South, and SC Launch have really instilled great confidence in the efforts being made locally to support the entrepreneurial ecosystem”
“Our team was immediately impressed with 6AM’s business model and ability to quickly scale into a specified target market,” said Lee MacIlwinen, SCRA Regional Manager, “We look forward to nurturing our relationship with the company and helping them growth.”
SCRA is a state-chartered organization that fuels job creation and grows South Carolina’s innovation economy. Through SC Launch, early-stage companies are provided mentoring and grants and may be eligible for an investment from SC Launch, Inc. The SC Launch program is open to qualified South Carolina companies in the Advanced Materials/Manufacturing, Information Technology and Life Sciences sectors.
6AM is presented with a big check at NEXT Venture Pitch in Greenville, SC, to celebrate the SC Launch, Inc. investment. From left: Jill Sorensen, SCRA Director of Entrepreneurial Programs, Ryan Johnston, 6AM CEO, Ryan Heafy, 6AM COO, Lee MacIlwinen, SCRA Regional Manager, Bob Quinn, SCRA Executive Director.
About SCRA
Chartered in 1983 by the State of South Carolina as a public, non-profit corporation, SCRA fuels South Carolina’s Innovation Economy by supporting entrepreneurs, enabling academic research and its commercialization, and connecting industry to innovators.
About SC Launch, Inc.
Established in 2006, SC Launch, Inc. is an independent, non-profit corporation affiliated with SCRA, which provides loans and investments to selected South Carolina-based companies participating in the SC Launch program.
