Amino, a US-based mobile community developer backed by internet company Google, has raised $6.5m in series A funding, TechCrunch reported on Thursday.
Venture capital firm Venrock led the round and Union Square Ventures also participated. Amino has also named Box Group as a backer in its announcement on Twitter.
Amino operates a range of 41 smartphone apps that each offer a forum focused on a specific topic. The apps revolve around subjects such as food, music or TV shows.
The company has been increasing the speed at which it releases new apps, with 25 communities set up in 2015 so far. It will use to money to hire developers, and sales and marketing staff.
Google Ventures, a corporate venturing vehicle of Google, took part in Amino’s $1.65m seed round in July 2014, which was led by Venrock and backed by Union Square, Box Group, SV Angel, Slow Ventures, Launch Angels and assorted private investors.
Ben Anderson, co-founder and chief executive of Amino, said: “Our vision is to create a close-knit community for every interest in the world — every popular TV show, movie franchise, sports team, video game and hobby.
“This means tens of thousands of apps, so we are working to open up the Amino platform, giving individual users the power to build a community for any interest they can dream of.”