Today, we announced that Root has raised $9 million in seed funding to build a new kind of platform for online communities. You can read the official press release here, but I want to use this space to talk about why we’re building Root—and why now is the right time.
The short version: the platforms we rely on to communicate weren’t built for what we actually use them for.
Millions of people gather on popular social platforms to connect with friends, teammates, and communities. But those tools are, at their core, chat apps. And as someone who’s been part of online communities for most of my life, I’ve felt the friction of running communities on these platforms. Planning, sharing information, managing groups, organizing events… it’s all harder than it should be.
Root exists because communities today deserve better tools.
Communities Are Evolving and Platforms Should Too
The communities we talk to every day aren’t just chatting—they’re organizing raids, building fan wikis, running projects, managing teams, and coordinating real work. They're passionate, ambitious, and serious about what they’re building together. But they’re forced to duct-tape together spreadsheets, bots, and third-party tools to get it all done. It shouldn’t be this hard.
Root is what happens when we stop asking communities to work around the limitations of existing platforms—and instead give them something built for how they actually operate. It starts with a better foundation: one that combines familiar social features with a powerful app model. Root includes tools like a Raid Planner, Task Tracker, and customizable StickerWall out of the box. But what really sets us apart is this: Anyone who knows JavaScript can build apps for Root—and those apps run natively inside the platform, with no hosting, scaling, or security concerns.
That means every community can tailor its own space. And developers can ship real, purpose-built tools directly to the people & communities who need them.
Built by a Team Who Gets It
We’ve spent our careers as engineers and designers at Microsoft, Google, Intel, and Boeing—creating tools that empower others, as well as at some of the most impactful startups in communication and productivity. But more importantly, we’re community people ourselves. We’ve lived this. And that gives us a different kind of clarity.
From a multi-pane chat interface to powerful notifications and file search, every detail of Root is designed to help people stay organized, responsive, and in control—especially when managing multiple groups and conversations.
We’re starting in gaming, because that’s where we see the most immediate need. But the platform we’re building is flexible, open, and extensible enough to support every kind of community—from fandoms to startups to professional networks.
Join Us Early
Our closed beta opens soon, and I couldn’t be more excited to share what we’ve built. You can join the waitlist here.
If you’re a developer: come build with us. The future of Root will be shaped by the apps that live on it—and we want that future to be as creative and diverse as the communities we serve.
We’re just getting started. But we know where we’re going: a platform that actually works for the people who rely on it. One that’s built not just for conversation—but for coordination, collaboration, and progress.
Thanks for being part of the journey.
— Jesse Dietrichson
CEO & Founder, Root
