Yobongo

Yobongo was a mobile communication startup founded in 2010 by Caleb Elston and David Kasper, who both previously worked at Justin.tv Inc. The San Francisco-based company developed a free iPhone application that enabled users to engage in spontaneous, location-based chat rooms with people nearby, aiming to facilitate new connections. Users would be placed into virtual rooms with 15-20 other people from their immediate vicinity, with the platform encouraging the use of real names and photos to foster authentic conversations.

In March 2011, Yobongo secured $1.35 million in a seed funding round. The round was led by True Ventures and Freestyle Capital, and included a notable group of angel investors such as Mitch Kapor, Dave Morin, Kevin Rose, and Gary Vaynerchuk. The app launched at the SXSW conference in 2011, generating initial buzz. However, it struggled to gain significant user traction, accumulating only tens of thousands of monthly active users. The company later shifted its focus from public discovery to private groups.

In March 2012, Yobongo was acquired by the photo-book creation service Mixbook for an undisclosed amount in a cash-and-stock deal. Following the acquisition, the Yobongo application was shut down, and its six-person team joined Mixbook to form a new mobile development unit. The acquisition was described as an acqui-hire and marked a reunion, as three members of the Yobongo team had previously worked at Scrapblog, another startup that Mixbook had acquired.

Keywords: Yobongo, Caleb Elston, David Kasper, location-based chat, mobile communication, social discovery, group messaging, Mixbook acquisition, True Ventures, Freestyle Capital, SXSW 2011, iPhone app, real-time chat, hyperlocal, acqui-hire