# Community Platform Software

> A field guide to the branded community software market - the companies selling brands, schools and creators a way to gather their own audiences instead of renting them on social media. It spans vBulletin (operated by MH Sub I, part of Internet Brands), alumni-engagement players Hivebrite, Gravyty and Almabase, event-community platform Bevy, B2B knowledge network Zapnito, customer-community platform Bettermode (formerly Tribe), and creator platform Nas.io. The through-line: owning the relationship with your people has become a product category.

## Achievements

- vBulletin (MH Sub I) has powered online forums continuously since 2000, outlasting most of the social platforms that were supposed to replace it.
- Hivebrite reports powering communities for 900+ organizations across 50+ countries, including the Obama Foundation, Boeing and Notre Dame.
- Bevy runs branded community and event programs for Google, Adobe, Salesforce and Atlassian, and absorbed CMX and Eventtus along the way.
- Gravyty and Graduway combined AI-driven fundraising with alumni engagement, backed by a $21M investment from K1 Investment Management.
- Nas.io / Nas.com reports serving roughly 3.5 million users and raised a $27M Series A led by Khosla Ventures.

## Latest updates

- **2025** — Nas.io moves toward the Nas.com brand and closes a $27M Series A led by Khosla Ventures, positioning around AI tools for solo businesses and communities.
- **2023** — Hivebrite closes a $37M Series B led by Quadrille Capital, with Insight Partners returning.
- **2022** — Tribe rebrands to Bettermode, doubling down on customer-community software for mid-market and enterprise.

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/quiet-war-to-own-the-audience-you-rent
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-08-10
