Katango
Develops social algorithms that improve people’s online social interaction and experiences.
| Date | Investors | Amount | Round |
|---|---|---|---|
| investor investor | €0.0 | round | |
N/A | Acquisition | ||
| Total Funding | 000k | ||
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Katango was a technology firm established in 2010 by co-founders Yoav Shoham, Mike Munie, and Thuc Vu, positioning itself to address the complexities of expanding social networks. The company was headquartered in Palo Alto, United States.
The founding team brought significant expertise to the venture. Yoav Shoham, who served as the company's chairman, was a professor of computer science at Stanford University with a notable background in artificial intelligence and game theory, having previously founded other tech companies. His academic and entrepreneurial pursuits centered on AI, multi-agent systems, and social coordination, directly informing Katango's core mission. Thuc Vu and Mike Munie also served as co-founders of the company.
Katango's business was centered on developing sophisticated social algorithms designed to simplify and enhance users' online social interactions. The company's primary offering was an iPhone application launched in July 2011. This app functioned as an "automatic friend sorter," enabling users to more easily manage their friend lists on platforms like Facebook and share content with specific, algorithmically generated groups. The underlying technology aimed to transition the manual process of curating social circles into an automated, algorithmic phase. The business model focused on providing this service directly to consumers through its mobile application.
The firm secured a total of $10 million in funding over two Series A rounds in September and October 2010, with investors including Kleiner Perkins and Maven Ventures. In a significant milestone, Katango was acquired by Google in November 2011, just over a year after its inception. The acquisition was driven by Google's interest in integrating Katango's algorithmic capabilities into its Google+ social platform, particularly for enhancing the 'Circles' feature for friend organization.
Keywords: social algorithm, friend sorting, social graph management, mobile application, social interaction, contact management, Google acquisition, circle management, social networking tool, algorithmic curation