Polis, whose technology platform helps organizations go door to door to facilitate in-person interactions, announced the close of a $1.3 million seed round led by Jennus Innovation and a handful of prominent Boston business leaders.

“Polis better connects people with the organizations they care about. Because consumers today are bombarded with impersonal ads, relationship-based sales methods such as door-to-door have never been more effective,” said Polis founder and CEO Kendall Tucker. “By providing data-driven solutions to the 1.9 million organizations that go door-to-door, we help them determine where to go, who to talk to and what to say, improving companies’ bottom lines and ensuring that consumers are approached about products and services they really want.”

Founded in July 2015 by Tucker, Polis was originally a political platform that helped campaigns and PACs manage the logistics of large-scale canvassing efforts.

“As a former campaign manager and local level candidate, I understood the need for data-driven field tools that would empower activists to knock doors and talk to their neighbors,” said Tucker. Polis worked with 109 political organizations on both sides of the aisle in 2016 including both Governor Gary Johnson and Dr. Jill Stein’s campaigns for president. Polis users knocked on over 3 million doors in support of their causes/candidates.

Earlier this year, Polis debuted its Enterprise offering, a similar platform that allows businesses to use Polis’ targeted data and canvassing software to knock doors and form relationships like political campaigns. This service includes logistics management, sales rep traceability, advanced reporting dashboards that offer greater visibility into sales efficacy and outreach, lead prospecting and a simple to use door knocking app. Since rolling out this system in January, the company has been used by eight corporations in the solar, insurance, telecoms and home security markets.

According to Chris Jenny, Chairman of Jennus Innovation and a new investor in Polis, door-to-door outreach represents a $1.2 billion market ripe for automation and improvement. “Technology represents a major opportunity to improve the efficacy and decrease the costs of door-to-door programs, which are becoming more important than ever for companies looking to maximize sales,” Jenny said. “We’re eager to back Polis’ vision to become the premiere solution for the last mile of marketing.”

Proceeds from the investment will be used to build out Polis’ team; strengthen its footprint within the security, energy, and telecom industries; and expand its Enterprise offering to new geographies.

News item from Polis