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§ Private Profile · San Francisco, CA, USA
SaaS platform for employee advocacy and social selling, using AI to curate content for enterprises.
Key people at Addvocate Inc. merged with Trapit Inc.
Addvocate and Trapit merged in late 2014 to operate under the Trapit brand, providing a cloud-based SaaS platform for employee advocacy and social selling based in San Francisco and Portland. The combined enterprise software utilizes artificial intelligence to curate relevant industry content from the web, enabling employees to share marketing materials authentically across their personal social media networks. Prior to merging, Trapit secured approximately eleven million dollars in venture capital from investors like Horizons Ventures, Rogers Venture Partners, and Astro, while Addvocate raised over two million dollars. Trapit was originally spun out of SRI International in 2010 by Gary Griffiths and Hank Nothhaft, whereas Addvocate was established in 2012 by Marcus Nelson and Carey Lyles. Following a platform relaunch in 2015, the combined entity was ultimately acquired by the content marketing company ScribbleLive during 2017.
Key people at Addvocate Inc. merged with Trapit Inc.
Trapit Inc., formed by the 2014 merger with Addvocate Inc., is a B2B SaaS company offering tools for employee advocacy and social selling. It combines Trapit's content discovery capabilities—curating relevant articles and information—with Addvocate's features for distributing that content to employees for social media sharing, enabling businesses to amplify brand reach through their workforce.[1]
The platform targets enterprises seeking to boost social engagement without heavy manual curation. It solves the problem of fragmented content discovery and employee sharing by streamlining workflows, which was the core outcome of the merger. By 2015, Trapit relaunched with this integrated product under new leadership, though no recent growth data is available from sources.[1]
Addvocate and Trapit were early-2010s startups focused on social media and content tools. Addvocate specialized in employee advocacy, helping companies equip staff with shareable branded content. Trapit originally provided personalized content recommendation engines, akin to early AI-driven news feeds.[1]
The pivotal moment came in 2014 with their merger, creating the combined entity named Trapit. This union addressed complementary needs: Trapit's discovery tech paired with Addvocate's distribution model. In April 2015, Trapit publicly relaunched the merged product. Leadership shifted when Gary Griffiths departed as CEO, with David Nothhaft stepping in as chief product officer then CEO—a mutual decision to align with product evolution.[1]
Trapit rode the mid-2010s wave of employee advocacy amid social selling's rise, as brands shifted from ad fatigue to authentic employee-driven marketing. This timing mattered during social media's professionalization (e.g., LinkedIn's growth), when tools bridging content curation and amplification filled a gap for sales/marketing teams.[1]
Market forces like increasing social algorithm changes favored such platforms, pressuring companies to leverage internal networks. Trapit influenced the ecosystem by pioneering merged tech stacks, inspiring later tools in sales enablement—though its visibility faded post-2015, reflecting consolidation in a maturing martech space.[1]
Post-2015 relaunch, Trapit likely evolved or integrated into larger suites amid martech acquisitions (e.g., by Oracle or Salesforce ecosystems), but no updates confirm current status. Next steps could involve AI enhancements for hyper-personalized content amid 2025's genAI boom in sales tools, capitalizing on employee networks in a privacy-regulated world.[1]
Trends like remote work and social commerce will shape it, potentially expanding to influencer-employee hybrids. Its influence may grow if revived, underscoring how early mergers like this laid groundwork for scalable advocacy—tying back to the merger's promise of unified, high-impact social tools.[1]