Dance Church was founded in 2010 by Kate Wallich, center in white top, and has added Clara Siegel, sitting in black top, as CEO. (Photo of the dance church)
Pioneer Square Labs is trying a few new steps when it comes to outsourcing a company from the Seattle startup studio and venture capital company.
PSL partners with Dance Church, the Seattle-based creators of an energetic, dance-oriented movement class founded in 2010. The COVID-19 pandemic turned dancing into live streaming – and attracted a huge new audience of attendees – and Now, with the help of PSL, Dance Class is launching a dance-on-demand product called Dance Church Go.
Dance Church Go is a membership platform that gives users access to a library of online courses for $ 19 per month or $ 199 per year. A live-only option allows users to pay for access to live courses.
The move to partner with PSL and gain critical expertise comes as Dance Church added former Facebook product manager Clara Siegel as CEO. Siegel was previously a Senior Product Manager at Tableau and Amazon. At Facebook, she managed products in the messenger and gaming teams.
Pioneer Square Labs typically come up with an idea and find CEOs to start a business, or work with entrepreneurs who come to the studio with their own idea. The deal with Dance Church and founder Kate Wallich is unique.
“In the case of Dance Church, Kate had a great ambition to develop her personal dance classes – that had built an obsessive following! – to a global technology platform, ”said PSL partner David Zager. “The resulting spinout is the marriage of everything Kate built on the classroom courses plus PSL’s time, resources and investment.”
We are really excited to work with @katewallich and @Clara_Siegel.
Announcing our latest spinout, @Dance_Church! Https: //t.co/DSRBpyhfT6
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– Pioneer Square Labs (@psl) June 15, 2021
PSL launched its startup studio in 2015, has raised $ 29 million to date and spun off more than two dozen startups. PSL raised $ 100 million for its second venture fund in March.
Dance Church is known for its carefully curated playlists and the professional dance artists who drive the experience. During the pandemic lockdowns when people were looking for ways to exercise and connect with a community, Dance Church launched a livestream alternative to their in-person classes.
“I’ve always said that I want Dance Church to be as big as it wants to be,” Wallich said in a press release. “When we turned over 50 people at the door for courses and then received thousands of emails and DMs during COVID, I knew we needed a strong infrastructure to intentionally keep our 10 year old organization together with the needs of the community scale. “
In collaboration with Nordstrom, Dance Church is also returning to its personal format with a national tour. The tour stops at the Seattle Center on July 10th.