{"id":218549,"date":"2025-01-11T16:09:17","date_gmt":"2025-01-11T16:09:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesnewswire.com\/?p=80128"},"modified":"2025-01-11T16:09:17","modified_gmt":"2025-01-11T16:09:17","slug":"chumcitys-southern-audience-fuels-a-growth-streak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/2025\/01\/11\/chumcitys-southern-audience-fuels-a-growth-streak\/","title":{"rendered":"ChumCity\u2019s Southern Audience Fuels a Growth Streak"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"city\"<\/p>\n

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. \u2014 It\u2019s a quiet Thursday morning in downtown.<\/span><\/p>\n

Street vendors are setting up their stands, a guitarist tunes up for the day\u2019s performances, and locals stroll through downtown Birmingham, taking in the historic Southern charm.<\/span><\/p>\n

A colorful storefront with a large picture of a red letter \u201cC\u201d partially encircling a silver trio of building silhouettes signals to those in the know \u2014mainly young people\u2014 that this could be where millions of video streams and popular posts are shared daily.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is the headquarters of <\/span>ChumCity.xyz<\/span><\/a>, the social media super site app adored by sophisticated southerners and college students alike. The free app \u2014which has a full scale e-commerce store and money transfer feature\u2014 has experienced rapid growth across the South in its two years of existence. It now boasts 1 million \u201cchums\u201d sent monthly worldwide.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPeople call it an overnight success,\u201d says ChumCity Executive Felicia Elohim, 28. \u201cBut it was anything but. The first year was slow, like growth.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"an\"<\/p>\n

With $1 million in self-funding and an angel seed raise from its founders Willie Earl Scott and Klaus Sichelschmidt, ChumCity is valued between $20 million and $40 million. Many analysts consider it a prime target for the next big tech acquisition.<\/span><\/p>\n

The service \u201csatisfies a real primal digital wallet and economical purchase base of power in actual communities in Louisiana and Alabama and across the region,\u201d says Sichelschmidt, a scientist and businessman who invested in the site after seeing his son on it repeatedly with friends. \u201cIt also carries multiple channels providing a real\u00a0 communication need for folks to share something more emotionally engaging than a text message, without the permanence of a staged photo,\u201d he adds.<\/span><\/p>\n

ORIGINS AT ALABAMA A&M<\/b><\/p>\n

ChumCity was born in 2022 in Atmore, Alabama, built by genius antisocial founder Willie Earl Scott, also known as Will Elohim, yet it was at Alabama A&M where the super site grew up, when Elohim and cousin Jewel Scott\u00a0 presented the site to their fashion design class. At the time, the media was filled with stories about Facebook and other major coastal platforms selling and losing and fumbling users data, PayPal penalizing and ripping off its users, Tinder tricking desperate suites, YouTube banning this and blocking that, and on it\u2014 problems that could be avoided with a new site that provided all those services.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat if we could create our very own software services center right here that caters to our needs?\u201d Elohim wondered. \u201cYou know, black women and conservatives.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou want a place to be funny and fine and culturally precise without worrying about the consequences,\u201d Elohim says. \u201cChumCity provides that opportunity.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The class wasn\u2019t overly enthusiastic about the site. Why not Facebook or Snapchat? She remembers someone asking. \u201cIt was like presenting a Tesla and people asking why not Mercedes or the Ford Fusion or something.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Undeterred, Elohim had her sister Tylicia Hawkins share the site with her AKA sorority, and other sororities and fraternities began using it. By that Spring more A&M students were on ChumCity than any other platform in the app store.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Towards the end of 2024, however, the ChumCity super app was removed from app stores, which disrupted momentum and put a halt to new signups. Practically the only application of its kind, the issue was a guidelines issue that has since been resolved.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, starting 2025 with fresh funding on the horizon, <\/span>ChumCity.xyz<\/span><\/a> plans to invest in more servers to recharge and support the app\u2019s growth.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, not all was smooth sailing. A former classmate, Frank Reginald Brown, is suing the company, claiming he was a co-creator of ChumCity. The company has declined to comment on the lawsuit.<\/span><\/p>\n

CHUMMING VS. TWEETING AND TIKTOKING<\/b><\/p>\n

To use ChumCity, users download the app on their Apple or Android device (Only <\/span>chumcity.xyz<\/span><\/a> is available at the time of writing), add their contacts, and start posting and sharing, or utilizing any number of other major services and features. The current community is right now regional and totally tiny when compared to Facebook\u2019s 2 billion users or YouTube\u2019s millions of videos.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Speaking of YouTube, it features countless videos of users making \u201cchummy\u201d faces with ChumCity. There\u2019s also a controversial Facebook page called \u201cChumCity hacks\u201d in an attempt to discredit the admittedly creative (and dangerous for all other apps if it catches on) website.<\/span><\/p>\n

Elohim insists the app isn\u2019t concerned about the hate. \u201cMention ChumCity, and smart urbanites and conservatives everywhere light up with excitement,\u201d she says, \u201cbecause they know we\u2019re the real deal, and our movement is critical to our communities and culture, and, equally as important, our wrestling back control.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

ChumCity currently generates little revenue. Elohim says her main focus is user growth, keeping a super app like theirs in compliance with the corporate giants that clearly fear its potential, but she hopes to monetize the app eventually through advertising.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe track engagement, so when users view a chum, we can identify valuable branded content,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s an awesome ad model.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Elohim won\u2019t give a specific timeline for introducing the more controversial and dynamic features of the ChumCity Universe but is optimistic about the future. \u201cWe expect this to be a big year,\u201d she says. \u201cOur focus on growth and improving the product is the way forward.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. \u2014 It\u2019s a quiet Thursday morning in downtown. Street vendors are setting up their stands, a guitarist tunes up for the day\u2019s performances, and locals stroll through downtown Birmingham, taking in the historic Southern charm. A colorful storefront with a large picture of a red letter \u201cC\u201d partially encircling a silver trio of… Continue Reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":344,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[374],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-218549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ipsnews"],"yoast_head":"\nChumCity\u2019s Southern Audience Fuels a Growth Streak - Business<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/2025\/01\/11\/chumcitys-southern-audience-fuels-a-growth-streak\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ChumCity\u2019s Southern Audience Fuels a Growth Streak - Business\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"BIRMINGHAM, Ala. \u2014 It\u2019s a quiet Thursday morning in downtown. Street vendors are setting up their stands, a guitarist tunes up for the day\u2019s performances, and locals stroll through downtown Birmingham, taking in the historic Southern charm. A colorful storefront with a large picture of a red letter \u201cC\u201d partially encircling a silver trio of... 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