A startup that began as an idea between high school students six years ago has grown into a platform striving to set new standards for how brands and student organizations form partnerships. Founded by three University of Michigan students and two other entrepreneurs, Promotone is a platform that aims to serve as a bridge between brands and student organizations, helping students curate authentic sponsorships with brands without having to manage the process on their own. Promotone is not directly affiliated with the University of Michigan.
In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Nathan Kalosa-Kenyon, Promotone’s co-founder and CBO, said the team intentionally chose to work with student organizations because they have an incentive to uphold their reputation on campus.
“The student organization is enticed to actually provide authentic engagement because they’re getting funded, and it affects their reputation on campus, as students or a student organization’s identity is tied to each of these promotions,” Kalosa-Kenyon said.
The team also focused on student organizations to help alleviate the funding gaps many student organizations on college campuses face. Business junior Kevin Toledo, Promotone’s head of growth, told The Daily student organizations constantly face significant challenges when it comes to securing sponsorships.
“As a student — going out of your way to seek sponsorships, getting communication — it’s hundreds, if not thousands, of emails back and forth,” Toledo said. “By using a platform like Promotone, you basically have to do zero of the work other than just, ‘Here’s what we have proposed for you: agree or decline.’ From there, it’s like the exact same process you would have done before, but you just eliminated potentially tens of hours just sending out emails trying to get those sponsorships for events.”
In September 2025, Sigma Eta Pi, the University’s co-ed entrepreneurship fraternity, partnered with Promotone for a fundraiser with Washtenaw Dairy. The collaboration raised hundreds of dollars for the club, while SEPi’s social media posts earned thousands of views for the brand. In an interview with The Daily, Public Health senior Madia Adnan, SEPI president, said while the club had struggled to meet its financial goals in the past, Promotone helped the club reach them this year and be sponsored by a brand outside of ones the organization has partnered with in previous years.
“Promotone gave us the ability for our first fundraiser to be sponsored by another brand,” Adnan said. “Promotone is a very fundamental platform that can allow for the professional growth of your organization to help reach your fundraising efforts and provide you the support that you need from these local Ann Arbor brands and companies.”
Kalosa-Kenyon said brands also benefit from using Promotone, since the platform is designed to help both the business and the student organization benefit from collaboration.
“You kill two birds with one stone, to the effect of giving brands authentic marketing with Gen Z, as well as compensating those student organizations through either product-based or financial sponsorship materials,” Kalosa-Kenyon.
Western Michigan University senior Benjamin Morin, Promotone Co-founder and CTO, said the company measures the success of collaborations between businesses and student organizations through a variety of data including social media views and event attendance.
“There’s a couple different terms that the organizations and the brands could come to and that’s how we’re measuring success … the type of reach and outreach that the organization got for the brand through the sponsorship,” said Morin. Whether it’s a sponsorship of an organization or an event that they’re throwing, we’re able to track the number of people that show up at the event, the number of social media views that their posts about an event or about sponsorship get.”
Rackham student Jad Merie, Promotone’s co-founder and CEO, said the team is planning to expand their reach to other college campuses in 2026.
“We’re working on expanding to five other flagship campuses around the Big Ten Conference, going into the spring semester of 2026,” Merie said. “The main goal is to transition the first five and break out into 30, to expand beyond the Big Ten and into more of the Southeastern Conference schools and get more exposure around the country.”
Merie said he hopes the business will grow into a platform that student organizations can naturally rely on to obtain their fundraising goals.
“This is the future of trying to get through Gen Z and establishing directly with student organizations that actually are excited about promoting your product,” Merie said. “It becomes normal for brands to go through the platform, and student organizations get the funding they need to do extracurriculars, to recruit new members and enjoy the experience of the four years at college.”
Daily Staff Reporter Grace Park can be reached at gracepm@umich.edu.
