The funding train continues to roll this week – Palo Alto based startup Renkoo, still in private beta, has closed on $3 million in venture capital from Matrix Partners.
Renkoo is one of a number of new Web 2.0 event creation companies that I’ve had a chance to preview (see also Skobee). Renkoo was founded by CEO Adam Rifkin (founder of KnowNow) and CTO Joyce Park (formerly lead engineer at Friendster). Launch date: “soon”.
Nice name. Skobee and Renkoo definitely seem to have identified a common problem which involves lots of (n x n) emails within groups planning daily/weekend stuff. The key will be to see how well integrated they can keep it with email and how the user experience can substantially be different than just using Yahoo Groups.
Nice name? I am really sick of “oo” names. Just because YahOO and gOOgle work doesn’t mean the rest will.
I am yet to be convinced that companies in this vein are solving a problem which really exists for large numbers, however I could be wrong.
Also, you say Adam Rifkin is CEO of this comany. Isn’t Knownow still an active company? Did he exit?
Its funny. In my opionion, evite works prety well for the masses. I’ve yet to see an event service which appeals to the average joe out there outside of evite. Say what you will about it not being web2.0, but renkoo, scobee and eventful have a way to go to justify $3mil.
Seems like a pretty horrible name… unless this is some kind of DOJO.
~Karate Kid
My two year old says “renkoo” when you give him a cookie…
Renkoo is fun, its got pretty colors, and would be just perfect for invites for a cocktail/dinner party. One other thing – has anyone noticed that noone knows how to respond to evites anymore?
Wen-Wen – maybe it’s just your evites no one responds to? heh, just kidding, you left yourself wide open on that one.
Jonas,
http://renkoo.t...he_name_re.html explains the meaning of the name Renkoo.
Funny that you would mention Dojo
http://renkoo.t...ojo_inside.html
Ted,
KnowNow is still an active company. I’m on the Board of Directors, but left day-to-day operations.
Renkoo is where I spend my time now.
I do like that Calvin’s two year old says “renkoo” when you give him a cookie. That’s very polite.
$3M for an event creation company?
Someone just wasted a lot of money.
Good luck.
$3M? How are you going to justify that to the VC’s? They’re gonna want like a $30M return right? Good luck….
And the bubble goes POP!
$3 mil is a little bit excessive for such thing… You know it’s a bubble when amateur VCs waste money left and right.
Good luck breaking into mainstream, especially when gCal now integrates evite capabilities on their calendar. Wrong place, wrong time.
I am a skeptic but not to the degree of some on this site. There is still a lot of room left in the invitation world… what people need is a good reason to switch from evite or just plain old sending out emails. If it were my company, I would focus on pizazz– because the way to grow this thing is by getting a few thousand first movers to start using it instead of evite, and watch it mushroom from there. I don’t think people are super tied in to evite, it’s just the only service they know. Focusing on the things that annoy people about evite, or ways they can make their invites stand out, could be the way to go.
This is great news! Adam, JP – go forth and kick butt!
I’ve enjoyed using the Alpha (or was it beta?) software for a while now and can’t wait to see what improvements will come post funding.
Here’s a different view of why $3MM in Renkoo is a good idea. Yes, evite works well, you might even say it’s “good enough.” But evite appears to be resting on its laurels – I just don’t see a lot of innovation going on there.
Think of Eventful, Skobee, and Renkoo as emerging from the primordial ooze; combining new ways to look at data, new ways to interact, and new ways to monetize new market spaces. VC sometimes bet on markets and regularly bet on companies within those markets. This is an evolutionary process that’s been going on since the wheel was invented.
Is Renkoo “the one?” Maybe. Maybe not. But the primordial ooze is flowing and new life forms are evolving. You either evolve or die. I prefer to place my bets on those that choose to evolve rather than choose to die by doing nothing. Adam and Joyce… best of luck.