Another budding city-based social network startup has raise a little angel money to help its ambitions. CitySocialising, which has been operating below most people’s radars since launching in January 2007, was founded by CEO Sanchita Saha (pictured) as a way to help professional new London settlers to connect and socialise offline in the city. It’s since added sections for Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester and Nottingham, but now plans to overhaul the service so has taken £260,000 from a syndicate led by the London Business Angels Network.
Whilst CitySocialising is free to join, there’s a £19.99 monthly fee for anyone who actually wants to attend those social events. The press release claims this has pulled in £300,000 a year. Now CitySocialising is updating its platform in May; launching Newcastle, Sheffield, Liverpool and Cardiff sections and planning to market itself. There are many sites offering user reviews and ratings of metropolitan services, but there may be a sweet spot left for real-world professional meetups. CitySocialising just has to find that spot in spite of the likes of Meetup.com and erstwhile real-world business networking/cocktail organisations.