Slingshot, a company that provides operational support for creatives, announced a $2.2 million pre-seed funding round, TechCrunch confirmed. Participation comes from Dorm Room Fund, 1916 Enterprises, Key Partners Group, and angel investor Vincent Francoeur, former head of web and mobile at Blizzard.

Founded in 2020 by Sanil Chawla, Slingshot initially started as a music monetization platform but later pivoted to its current iteration in 2023. The company now offers a centralized platform that helps creatives manage financial transactions, legal filings, and tax paperwork. Slingshot also provides its own corporate card to streamline financial management for its users further.

Chawla, now 24, explained to TechCrunch that the company’s goal is to simplify the complex financial and business challenges faced by self-employed creatives, allowing them to focus on their passion. The company’s primary banking-as-a-service partner for customer accounts is Stripe through its Treasury and Issuing programs.

According to TechCrunch, Slingshot’s fundraising journey took four years, with the company raising smaller angel checks in 2020 before reaching its current model in 2023. The company raised $50,000 initially, followed by an additional $1.2 million to build out its original idea. In late 2022, Slingshot pivoted based on customer feedback, focusing more on providing a comprehensive financial product. The company then spent the following year raising an additional $1 million to close the pre-seed round.