TECHNOLOGY

Local tech startup Gusto LLC is looking to raise $1.5 million in private equity, according to a recent Securities and Exchange Commission filing, and it has $500,000 so far.

The software firm is behind smartphone app Gusto, which brings user emails, photos and files from various accounts onto a central platform. CEO Shawn Schwegman,who launched Gusto in April, said when this funding round closes, the company will have raised $4 million.

“We’ll probably make a few team additions on the development side,” Schwegmansaid, “and really step on the gas over the course of next year to really develop our user base.”

In April, the firm announced raising $1.3 million in venture capital, Schwegmansaid, which followed an initial $1.2 million.

Schwegman, a former ChaCha Search Inc. and Overstock.com executive, said Gusto manages 151 million emails, 6.5 million files and 10 million photos for 57,000 users.

Despite those figures, it might take some time for the 10-person firm to start generating revenue. Schwegman said his team is putting off developing a revenue model until the first quarter of next year, focusing for now on enhancing user experience.

“Right now, we’re thinking about a subscription model that people in the industry call a freemium offering,” he said. “So it would be free for a majority of users for most of the functionality that you see today, but there might be certain features that we put behind a paywall.

“We really want to keep this free for the users. Our users let us know that we’re solving a big pain point,” Schwegman said.