STARTUP: Mixxer, based in Seattle, WA
ELEVATOR PITCH: Mixxer is trying to convince its four million users that it is more than just a ringtones site and is remaking itself as a mobile content sharing community.
WHAT THEY DO: In a former life the company was called 3GUpload and found some success selling ringtones and mobile content directly to consumers by offering online storage, which they call a locker. Now the company is remaking itself with an emphasis on user-generated, shared content, using a social network. But, hey, isn’t everybody?
PEOPLE: CEO John Dearborn, formerly at American Greetings Interactive, and CTO Michael Cockrill, formerly at Qpass.
FUNDING: $20 million, VantagePoint Venture Partners.
CUSTOMERS: They say they have 4 million young users.
COMPETITORS: Both online and mobile social networks, as well as ringtone sellers.
THE DEAL: The former ringtone seller wants to reinvent the company as a community for mobile content. To do this Mixxer raised money — a lot of money for a mobile content company — from VantagePoint, which was one of MySpace’s funders. Mixxer executives are very fond of mentioning that its funder was also MySpace’s. The problem is that a fickle ringtone-buying audience might not be willing to wait around through such significant changes.
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