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Circle
Founded 2019 · 368 employees on LinkedIn · 11 known investors
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Circle is an all-in-one platform for building and running online communities, offering member spaces, engagement feeds, branded mobile apps, courses, email marketing, website building, and integrated payments. It serves creators and digital businesses looking to host memberships, courses, and recurring subscriptions in one place.
Also known as Circle · Circle.so
Founders & leadership
Circle was founded in 2019 by Sid Yadav and Andrew Guttormsen.
Investors · 11
How we know: the VCSheet dataset · Not right? Tell us
How we know: Notation Capital's portfolio page · the VCSheet dataset · Not right? Tell us
How we know: Todd and Rahul’s Angel Fund's portfolio page · the VCSheet dataset · Not right? Tell us
How we know: Vibe Capital's portfolio page · the VCSheet dataset · Not right? Tell us
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Circle (circle.so) is a software platform for creators, coaches and digital businesses that combines community, courses, events and monetization tools under a single customer-owned brand. Core community functionality includes customizable member spaces, discussion feeds with rich media, direct messaging, live streams and events, member directories, gamification, automated moderation, search with unlimited history and analytics. Operators can extend the community into a native iOS and Android application through a branded app builder that supports push notifications, custom screens and app store submission.
Beyond community hosting, Circle bundles commerce and marketing capabilities: a branded checkout supporting one-time purchases, memberships and recurring subscriptions, with pricing options, multiple payment methods, access groups, affiliate programs, reporting and migration tooling. An Email Hub provides email broadcasts, marketing automation, forms, audience CRM, segmentation and engagement analytics. A visual website builder allows landing pages, sales pages and websites to be created inside the platform and connected directly to courses, memberships and content, granting members access immediately after signup or purchase. The company also offers AI and automation features, including Circle AI, AI agents, AI summaries, workflows, integrations, and APIs with headless usage.
Business model
Circle sells its platform on a subscription basis to community operators, with higher tiers such as Circle Plus adding capabilities like a branded mobile app; the platform also processes member payments for memberships, courses and one-time purchases through its own checkout.
Traction
The company's site cites 70,000+ reviews and named customers including Jay Shetty, Tim Ferriss, Ali Abdaal, Pat Flynn, Brendon Burchard, Dr. Becky (Good Inside), Johnny Harris and Dave Gerhardt's Exit Five; one customer, Tiago Forte of Forte Labs, reports more than $3 million in sales processed on Circle over two years.
Latest developments
Recent product areas highlighted by the company include Circle AI with AI agents and AI summaries, a branded mobile app builder for iOS and Android, the Email Hub for broadcasts and marketing automation, and a visual website and funnel builder connected to memberships and payments.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market
Market position
Positions itself as an all-in-one alternative to assembling separate community, course, email, website and payment tools, and cites recognition as a G2 Leader and adoption by creator and coaching brands.
Technology
A hosted, all-in-one web and mobile platform combining community spaces, courses, live streaming, events, payments and checkout, email marketing automation, a visual website builder, branded native iOS/Android apps, and AI features (Circle AI, AI agents, AI summaries) plus workflows, integrations and APIs supporting headless implementations.
Go-to-market
Self-serve acquisition through a free trial on the company website, supported by customer testimonials from prominent creators and coaches, migration tooling for operators moving from other platforms, and software review-site presence such as G2.
Creators, coaches, educators, podcasters and digital businesses running paid communities, memberships, courses and events, including individual creators and brand-led professional communities.
Compiled by commissioned research from 4 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
▸Research sources · 4
primary sources listed
- NV CEO Forumcircle.so · web
4 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Circle do?
- Circle is an all-in-one platform for running branded online communities, courses, events, memberships and payments.
- Who founded Circle?
- Circle was founded by Sid Yadav, Andrew Guttormsen in 2019.
- Who are Circle's investors?
- Circle's investors include BoxGroup, Bungalow Capital, Chapter One, HubSpot Ventures, ICA Fund, LocalGlobe, Navigate Ventures, Notation Capital and 3 more.