Pelago
Whrrl v20, an app that enables people to capture and share moments, as they happen, in story form.
| Date | Investors | Amount | Round |
|---|---|---|---|
| investor investor investor | €0.0 | round | |
| investor | €0.0 | round | |
N/A | Acquisition | ||
| Total Funding | 000k | ||
Established in 2006, Pelago, Inc. was a Seattle-based mobile software company with a mission to reshape how individuals interact with and discover their physical surroundings. The company was founded by Jeff Holden and Darren Vengroff, both of whom brought extensive experience from leadership roles at Amazon.com. This background in large-scale consumer technology and data-driven products heavily influenced Pelago's direction. The firm secured significant financial backing from a notable syndicate of investors, including Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Bezos Expeditions (the personal investment fund of Jeff Bezos), T-Venture, and Trilogy Equity Partners, signaling strong market confidence in its early-stage vision.
Pelago's primary offering was Whrrl, a location-based social application designed for iPhone and Android devices. Whrrl functioned as a social game aimed at encouraging real-world exploration by providing users with personalized suggestions for new places to visit and activities to undertake. The platform's business model appeared to be centered on creating a user base engaged with local businesses and venues, which could later be monetized through partnerships or location-based advertising. In addition to its flagship product, Pelago also developed Tweet2Go, a dedicated Twitter application for Verizon phones.
The company's journey saw it positioned as an early entrant in the burgeoning location-based services market, competing with contemporaries like Foursquare and Gowalla. However, Pelago and its Whrrl service ceased operations in April 2012. Following the shutdown, key members of the Pelago team, including its founders, were reportedly acquired by and transitioned to Groupon. This move leveraged their expertise in local commerce and mobile technology, marking the conclusion of Pelago's chapter as an independent entity and the integration of its talent into a larger player in the local deals space.
Keywords: location-based services, mobile social networking, local discovery, check-in app, user-generated recommendations, mobile gaming, local commerce, venture capital, acquihire, mobile application