Sonoma County entrepreneur’s Hello Alice venture lands $21M series B funding round

Hello Alice, a firm co-founded by Sonoma County serial entrepreneur Elizabeth Gore, closed a $21 million funding round that included county resident and celebrity chef Guy Fieri, according to a startup finance information service.

The series B round for the Houston-based developer of artificial intelligence software for business was led by QED Investors along with new investors Backstage Capital, Green Book Ventures, Harbert Growth Partners, How Women Invest and a group of individuals, including Guy Fieri and former AOL CEO Jean Case, Crunchbase reported Friday.

Hello Alice has raised about $30 million in investments since Gore and Carolyn Rodz started the venture in 2017.

The new funding is said to be going toward supporting business owners, particularly those with small operations and from disadvantaged communities, according to Crunchbase. Hello Alice also plans to launch a mobile application of its software.

In the past 24 months, Hello Alice achieved more than 1,100% growth, the information service reported. In April 2020, the venture launched a COVID-19 business resource center, raised and distributing more than $20 million in emergency grants and resources to small business owners to help them survive the pandemic impacts on the economy.

“That is a top need for whether they are growing or surviving,” Gore told Crunchbase. “That is why we launched the small business funding center. America’s comeback from the global pandemic will center around the business owner. We think 2022 will be the year of the small business, and our goal is to help.”