Sircles
Sircles is a Sacramento-based mobile platform that turns friend-to-friend recommendations into a positivity-first community for discovering local businesses, entertainment, and shared interests. It serves consumers for free and monetizes via a $20/month SMB Business Portal subscription.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2021
- HeadquartersSacramento, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingSoftware
What Sircles does
Sircles Media, Inc. is a Sacramento-based, privately held social and local-discovery platform that operates the Sircles App, a mobile community where users share friend-to-friend recommendations for local businesses, restaurants, entertainment (movies, shows, podcasts), and activities inside interest-based group chats and a map-based discover feed. The product is built around an explicit "positivity-first" community architecture: every account is validated by phone number, trolls are banned for life, and the platform explicitly avoids ad-based revenue, distinguishing it from traditional review sites and incumbent social networks. Supporting the consumer app are three ancillary surfaces — the Business Portal (a self-serve SMB dashboard with profile control, coupon placement on a local map, and favorites analytics, priced at $20/month), the Sircle Store (branded merchandise), and Sircles Sesh (publicly streamed daily work sessions for transparency).
Monetization is narrowly concentrated on the Business Portal subscription plus merchandise, with the consumer experience free. The platform has accumulated 3.7M+ app opens since its February 2021 soft launch, 50K+ Google Play downloads, 70%+ 30-day retention, and 30+ active communities ranging from 68 to 24,000+ members across local (Sacramento Kings, MoodyBitez), entertainment (Netflix & Chill), and international (Meet the World, Rugby World) verticals. The company is founder-led (CEO John Worthington, CIO/President Todd Fiore, COO Daniel Hinkle), has raised approximately $6.47M across three disclosed rounds (2021, 2024, 2025), and is currently raising additional equity via StartEngine to retail investors at a $250 minimum. Its go-to-market blends community-led growth (network-effect sharing, gamification), product-led growth (free consumer app with self-serve SMB upgrade), and event-driven engagement (live work sessions and crowdfunding community).
Sircles firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Sircles
- Legal name
- Sircles Media, Inc.
- Website
- https://sircles.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2021
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Sircles is a Sacramento-based mobile platform that turns friend-to-friend recommendations into a positivity-first community for discovering local businesses, entertainment, and shared interests. It serves consumers for free and monetizes via a $20/month SMB Business Portal subscription.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Sircles industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Social Discovery Platform
- NAICS
- Media Streaming Distribution Services, Social Networks, and Other Media Networks and Content Providers (51621), Media Streaming Distribution Services, Social Networks, and Other Media Networks and Content Providers (516210)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Social Q&A & Knowledge Communities (BPAMABAI)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Q&A Knowledge Communities (MPACAJAD), Q&A and Knowledge Discovery Platforms (BPAMAAAF)
Keywords
Where Sircles is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Sacramento
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Sircles business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Business Profile Subscriptions: Businesses claim their profile page for $20/month, unlocking the ability to place coupons on a local map, gain full control over their profile, and access detailed analytics such as which users have 'favorited' their business. Simple, affordable, and automated subscription model.
- Sircle Store Merchandise: The company operates a merchandise store (Sircle Store) selling branded apparel and items. This provides an additional revenue stream alongside the core subscription business.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Others | Consumer Free Tier |
| Subscription | Monthly | Business Profile ($20/month) |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels6 records
Sircles product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Sircles operates a mobile social discovery platform that converts group chats into trust-based recommendations, allowing users to share and discover local businesses, restaurants, entertainment (movies, shows, podcasts), and activities with friends in a positivity-mandated environment. The company monetizes through $20/month business profile subscriptions that unlock analytics, map-based coupon placement, and profile control, with an ancillary branded merchandise storefront (Sircle Store).
Product overview
Sircles offers a unified mobile application combining social networking with location-based local business discovery and group communication. The core product is the Sircles App, a positive community platform where users share recommendations for local businesses, restaurants, entertainment, and activities with friends through interest-based group chats and a discover feed. Supporting the consumer app, the Business Portal enables local merchants to manage their profiles, post coupons, and access user analytics for $20/month. The Sircle Store provides a companion commerce layer, while Sircles Sesh offers transparency through live team work sessions. The platform is subscription-based (avoiding ad-based revenue) and targets users seeking authentic, troll-free social discovery as an alternative to platforms like Yelp.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Sircles App A free community-based mobile application designed as a positivity-first social discovery platform where individual consumers share recommendations for local businesses, restaurants, entertainment (movies, shows, podcasts), and activities with friends through interest-based group chats and a map-based discover feed. Available on iOS and Android.
- Business Portal A self-serve business-facing dashboard that lets local SMB merchants claim their profile page, place coupons on a local map, control their business profile, and access analytics on user favorites, sold as a $20/month subscription.
- Sircle Store A companion storefront platform linked to the Sircles ecosystem, featuring local business listings and branded Sircles merchandise.
Quantifiable outcome
- 3.7M+ app opens since February 2021 soft launch
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Sircles
Customer profileNamed customers5 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Sircles technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability1 record
Feature4 records
Sircles partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators10 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Sircles competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Yelp: Yelp is the dominant consumer platform for local business discovery via reviews and ratings. Sircles explicitly positions itself as a positive, friend-driven alternative to Yelp for local business recommendations, making Yelp the most direct comparator in product and target SMB audience.
- Nextdoor: Nextdoor is a hyperlocal community platform for neighbors to share recommendations and information. Sircles shares the same neighborly, community-led approach to local recommendations but extends it beyond geography into interest-based fandoms and entertainment discovery.
- Foursquare: Foursquare pioneered location-based check-ins, local venue discovery, and SMB location advertising. Sircles overlaps directly in map-based local business discovery and SMB monetization, but layers on community-driven friend recommendations rather than check-in mechanics.
- Geneva: Geneva is a group-based social app organized around shared interests, communities, and events — very similar in structure to Sircles' interest-based chat groups. It competes for the same 'small, friendly community' use case, particularly among Gen Z and younger millennials.
- Meetup: Meetup enables interest-based local communities to organize events and gatherings. Sircles overlaps with Meetup in the formation of niche interest communities (Run Club, sports, fandoms) and the goal of converting online affinity into real-world activity.
- Alignable: Alignable is a network for small business owners to connect, refer customers, and share local recommendations. Sircles overlaps with Alignable in serving local SMBs with discovery and peer-to-peer recommendation mechanics.
Broad incumbents
- Tripadvisor: Tripadvisor is a major global platform for user-generated reviews and recommendations for travel, restaurants, and experiences. Sircles covers a narrower, community-led subset of the same review/recommendation use case that Tripadvisor dominates at scale.
- Discord: Discord powers interest-based community servers with chat, voice, and discovery features. Sircles' group chats organized by fandoms (Netflix, Drake, rugby, paranormal) overlap directly with Discord's server model but layer on local business discovery and positivity curation.
- Reddit: Reddit hosts thousands of interest-based communities (subreddits) where users share recommendations and discuss topics. Sircles competes with Reddit for community/discussion mindshare, especially around entertainment, food, and lifestyle niches.
Emerging players
- Untappd: Untappd is a social app for beer enthusiasts to check in, rate, and recommend beers and venues. Like Sircles, it combines social recommendation mechanics with local venue discovery, but in a single vertical niche.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Sircles social profiles
Digital presenceSircles compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance2 records
Sircles financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Sircles leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles8 records
Sircles funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds3 records
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Sircles M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Sircles
What does Sircles do?
Sircles operates a mobile social discovery platform that converts group chats into trust-based recommendations, allowing users to share and discover local businesses, restaurants, entertainment (movies, shows, podcasts), and activities with friends in a positivity-mandated environment. The company monetizes through $20/month business profile subscriptions that unlock analytics, map-based coupon placement, and profile control, with an ancillary branded merchandise storefront (Sircle Store).
Is Sircles a public or private company?
Sircles is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Sircles founded?
Sircles was founded in 2021. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Sircles based?
Sircles is headquartered in Sacramento, United States, in the North America region.
How does Sircles make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Business Profile Subscriptions are the primary driver. The others are sircle Store Merchandise.
Who are Sircles's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Yelp, Nextdoor, Foursquare, Geneva, Meetup and Alignable. Broad incumbents are Tripadvisor, Discord and Reddit. Untappd is listed as an emerging player.
Does Sircles have an API?
No public API is recorded for Sircles.
What industry is Sircles in?
Sircles's product category is Social Discovery Platform. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAMABAI, Social Q&A & Knowledge Communities, with a secondary code of MPACAJAD, Q&A Knowledge Communities. Its NAICS code is 51621 and its SIC code is 7372.