Cozi, an intriguing Seattle based startup that’s most easily described as a social network for a family unit, is announcing an investment and business deal with newspaper conglomerate Gannett Co. later this morning. The size of the investment is not being disclosed (we believe it is $8 million, however). Cozi has raised $7.3 million prior to this round.
Cozi lets family members keep a group journal, share photos, organize chores, share calendars and create todo lists. There’s a significant overlap with genealogy sites like Geni, as well as some of the life story sites we’ve profiled from time to time. But I haven’t seen anything quite like Cozi, which also has mobile and Outlook syncing to keep everyone on the same page. The demo here gives more feature details.
The service now has 600,000 registerd family members and says it’s adding 2,000 new ones per day.
Cozi says they’ll be delivering Gannett content, particularly local content (likely via Topix and other properties). It’s also clear Gannett will be pushing this to its users – they claim to reach 75% of all U.S. adults through its various sites.
Brilliant! I like the idea of bringing the family closer with Web 2.0.
Now, we can really the real value of enriching bonds with your siblings/parents/children. Really neat idea and I can imagine it could even grow into connecting a huge family tree for generations (assuming the service last for that long)..
Simply Brilliant!
Warmest,
Darren Lee
http://www.adexcel.com
The entire concept looks good. For start 600,000 registerd family members is decent. Moreover it is surely bringing families more closer. I think it should be called as family 2.0
Nice tracking…I guess many more would appear on that list very soon.
Yes, exactly, This will happen, me too guess the same.
Something similar in India.
http://onefamily.ibibo.com/
Not quite sure if it has taken off!
Nice tracking…I guess many more would appear on that list very soon
Arrington,
You want to be in my family? We’ll cut you in for our family name for only 10% of your assets.
Very cool, the only thing is I hoe i can get my kids away myspace long enough to use this. I Love it
The problem with sites that take organizational functions such as calendar, task lists etc. and repackage them around “vertical” themes such as family, event organization, party-planning, grocery list organizers is that most of us are already deeply embedded for several years at this point in “horizontal” systems such as Google Calendar, Remember the Milk task lists, Basecamp etc. and all the various other function-defined offerings that have been on offer for years now. At this point most of us are so committed to these horizontals that sites such as Cozi must take the “we-work-with-anything” approach used by services such as Friendfeed. In the absence of that approach this product just can’t reach me. “Registered members” means someone signed up, nothing more – its equivalent to someone walking into a store, picking up a pair of shoes and asking the shopkeeper its price – its not a sale. I can’t remember how many services I have signed up for just to see their internals, how their systems work and then have never returned. Finally, newspaper money is frightened money right now desperately looking to have, or to be seen to have, a constructive relationship with the internet beast that is threatening their traditional business model. I don’t see how this investment solves that threat for Gannet.
Well, I am glad that someone is cozy! Very cool thing indeed.
JT
http://www.Privacy-center.net
“The service now has 600,000 registerd family members and says it’s adding 2,000 new ones per day.”
Where do these sites grab all these initial members?
People generally won’t sign up to a website until it has critical mass.
Are they blowing huge budgets on advertising?
“Cozi was founded in 2005 by a group of Microsoft veterans”
nm, question answered.
http://www.cozi...bout/about.aspx
What’s the Microsoft subsidy for creating a website with ASP.NET ???
I’ve read and heard different things from different people.
It’s sad that they have to pay people to use their tech, but at the same time, I want to know how much. I’m sure it’s different for different sites too. I’m curious.
As a business deal, this is great news for Cozi. But the traction numbers are confusing to me. A peek at Alex shows a ranking of 162,000 – that’s a pitiful score. Compete thinks they have 50K monthly uniques (low), but a decent engagement (8 page views).
Cozi seems to be a well built Web 2.0 site – but has not been getting the distribution they need. This deal may well provide them better distribution and marketing support.
Love this concept!
Love the outlook syncing. Very web 2.0 and very cool.
Someone should buy them now….
Interesting concept integrating the domestic family sphere with the online social networking experience. Sounds like a promising venture. The founders probably read this also.. http://www.read...ex.php?rta=blog
Mike #14… I’m with you. Something’s ‘fishy’ about their reported numbers.
I work for a social network that has 50,000 members and we’re ranked 40,000 on Alexa. Not that Alexa is the end all… but you would think that if a network really had 600,000 members, their Alexa ranking would at least be in the ‘ballpark’ and not 4x less than a network with 1/10 the members.
Nice exit for the investors… invest $7.3 million and get $8 million back? What’s the point?
As a business deal, this is great news for Cozi. But the traction numbers are confusing to me. A peek at Alex shows a ranking of 162,000 – that’s a pitiful score. Compete thinks they have 50K monthly uniques (low), but a decent engagement
Seems like a great idea. A Web 2.0 service that provides relevant, personable information. With the influx of start-ups and the constant reworkings of existing sites, I am starting to feel a disconnect with many sites (and the users on them). Most of them are great tools, yes; at the same time, most of them lack a filter for all the noise (at least for personal use). There are varying degrees of relationship building (with 2.0 low on my totem pole), but it is nice to see the connection between family/friends and 2.0 usage.
Looks ok,
Personally, my wife is waiting for http://www.nesting.com to launch.
It’s freaking gorgeous.
Very cool
Cozi is definitely doing cool things, but I think competition from the family tree websites like Geni will be a hard thing for Cozi to overcome. If Geni can figure out everyones family trees and then take the next step with the integration and communication among family members, then it seems like thats a pretty big step beyond what Cozi offers. Still a good thing for Cozi though to help market and expand their service.
Peter Epstein
http://www.thewebwar.com
600,000 members must have come from buying some related companies list when it died. They just rolled them over and signed them up automatically. Nowhere in their Alexa history do they show enough pageviews to justify that many members. My bootstrapped social network http://www.BIGLIFE.ws beat them on pageviews twice in May with only 450 members
The concept of offering a Pageflakes or Googlereader type homepage combined with a semi-niched social network is smart. I think I’ll go add that functionality to my Ning site today. Nice to know I can do for free what cost them millions, only a year ago!
~Victory Darwin
Cozi – here is your million dollar idea. Work with AT&T, Comcast, and other MSOs that want to offer 3-screen experiences, and get yourself linked up to the TV so the grandmother and grandchildren can interact not with computer screens but as a Picture-In-Picture on the TV set in the living room. Your best bet is to work with the carriers like ATT, Verizon, etc.
“GateHouse Media New England has entered into an agreement with Waltham-based social media companyTownConnect to introduce family-based social networking and a variety of other community-building tools on GateHouse’s 159 Wicked Local town websites in Massachusetts. ”
This looks like a great concept as well. WickedLocal and TownConnect doing some pretty progressive stuff as far as getting their readers involved.
Great idea, i hope more start-up companies build some meaningful website like Cozi.
Nat
http://www.workersinc.com
I read the “Family 2.0″ story in CNET which showed the similar sites. I think Cozi is cooler than the sites listed.
http://news.cne..._3-6079271.html
I really think Famundo is a much solution for families.
I really think Famundo is a much solution for families.
YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! Cozi is the biggest piece of CR*P to call itself software since Microsoft released BOB. What a piece of SH*T. But then again, so is USA TODAY. I wish them many insipid months together.
Looked at Cozi, but chose Famundo for our family. Cozi doesn’t do much really. Famundo has a lot more of the features that we need to keep track of our busy lives and, unlike Cozi, includes ways of involving extended family & friends as well.
I would recommend anyone looking for a family calendar/family social networking product to look at Famundo.
http://www.famundo.com
Good idea!