ElectNext closes $1.3M round, launches ‘political baseball cards’ on Philly.com

ElectNext has a new look.

The politics startup finished raising a $1.3 million round, launched its “political baseball cards” on Philly.com and has changed its business model, it announced today. The new baseball card product provides campaign finance data, like a a breakdown of campaign donations by individuals and PACs, and biographical information about politicians that are mentioned in news stories. Check it out at the bottom of the page here and throughout Philly.com.

The aim, founder Keya Dannenbaum said in a statement, is to use data to provide context to news articles and deliver relevant information when readers are thinking about these politicians.

It’ll also be crucial to its new business model: a subscription service that allows politicians to track their media impact. That seems to mean offering data on the reach of media coverage about a candidate and tools to grow it.

Previously, ElectNext sold its political matchmaking platform to media outlets. The company already has paying customers for this new model, said national political director Dave Zega.

ElectNext is focusing on local media partners right now, including Philly.com and state government news site PoliticsPA. Free to media partners, the “baseball cards” will also be featured on PBS News Hour and the New York City-based political opinion site PolicyMic. The data featured on the cards comes from organizations like the Sunlight Foundation, Follow the Money and GovTrack.

Brooklyn Bridge Ventures led the startup’s $1.3 million round of funding, which includes a $750,000 that had previously been announced, Zega said. Participating investors include Comcast Ventures, the Knight Foundation, Digital News Ventures, Center City’s Gabriel Investments, Liberty City Ventures and social entrepreneurship-focused Investor’s Circle, according to the release.

ElectNext, a DreamIt Ventures and GoodCompany Group graduate, has six employees that are distributed between San Francisco, New York City and Philadelphia. Dannenbaum works out of New York City, while three employees work in Philly’s Indy Hall coworking space, Zega said.