Thrive Capital led the round, with Managing Partner Josh Kushner joining Kinnek's board of directors. Previous investors, including Matrix Partners, Sierra Ventures, Version One Ventures, and Angelpad, as well as individual investors Naval Ravikant and Benjamin Ling, also participated. Funds will be used to fuel Kinnek's expansion to meet demand from new industries, increase marketing efforts, and grow the company's engineering and sales teams.

'Running a small business isn't easy,' said Kinnek CEO and co-founder, Karthik Sridharan. '4.7 million SMBs in the United States have to juggle all their business operations and purchasing has always been a big pain-point. Kinnek empowers them to find the best suppliers, quotes and information quickly and easily. What used to take days -- or even weeks -- now takes just a few minutes. It's fulfilling to see how Kinnek is empowering these businesses and their owners.'

SMBs represent $2.2 trillion in annual aggregate spending on supplies and equipment. Kinnek enables business owners to receive customized quotes from multiple suppliers for any purchase, with just a single request.

'Through our platform, businesses can compare and connect with the suppliers that match their specific needs,' says COO and co-founder, Rui Ma.

'Kinnek also helps these business owners make the right purchasing decisions by giving them free access to a wealth of research and purchasing information, including unbiased supplier reviews, expert answers to common product questions, and thousands of in-depth supplier profiles.'

'Kinnek has erased an extreme pain point for thousands of business,' said Joshua Kushner, Founder of Thrive Capital and new Kinnek board member.

'Kinnek has successfully built a marketplace that adds significant value to small businesses.'

Kinnek currently supports small businesses across a range of industries and is planning to expand the service to several new sectors in the coming year. The platform is already handling more than $1 billion in quotes per year.
According to Ivan Rebello, CEO of Zenan Glass and one of Kinnek's most active suppliers, 'Over the last three years Kinnek has provided valuable leads that have turned out to be a major source of sales to our company. Kinnek's tools are changing the way we engage with our customers.'

For more perspective from the Kinnek team on the funding, please read their latest blog post. To learn more about the company, please visit www.kinnek.com.

About Kinnek

Kinnek is the marketplace for small businesses to find suppliers and manage purchasing. Launched in 2012, Kinnek is based in New York City, and is built by a team that believes in leveraging technology to help small businesses succeed. The company is backed by some of the top technology investors in New York and Silicon Valley, led by Thrive Capital and Matrix Partners. Kinnek is also a proud graduate of the AngelPad incubator. To find out more about how Kinnek is transforming small business purchasing, visit www.kinnek.com.

About Thrive Capital

Thrive Capital is a private equity and venture capital firm focused on technology and media investments. Since its founding in 2009, Thrive has invested in companies including Instagram, Twitch, Warby Parker, Oscar, Spotify and Harry's.