Early Stage Companies You Should Know: Songza, Condition One, Rewind.me, Memolane and Bondsy

By The Myers Report Archives
Cover image for  article: Early Stage Companies You Should Know: Songza, Condition One, Rewind.me, Memolane and Bondsy

This is Part 9 of my continuing series on the most interesting digital advances and emerging companies. Prior reports focused on the retargeting business; the Cloud; Google Glasses; Crowdfunding; Airtime (Facebook video chat); credit card linked offers (Linkable Networks); trending social companies Wendr, ShopSocially, and Karma. To read the full series, visit http://www.jackmyers.com/media-business-report

Songza

Music site Songza, has been turning some heads in the industry with new improvements for streaming music. Songza offers over 14.5 million songs. Like Pandora, Songza allows users to listen to their favorite music streaming in a seemingly infinite playlist. However, Songza differsSongzafrom Pandora in that it specifically syncs that music to what each user is doing at any given time. Songza's playlists are frequently categorized by the days of the week, and it even plays music sympathetic to a person's mood, not just an artist or song that they like. Songza has more than 75,000 playlists, all created by humans including celebrities and music industry elite, and not by artificial intelligence. Songza does not charge a fee to users and also does not feature audio advertisements. The entirety of Songza's revenue comes from standard banner and custom advertising, with video advertising planned, taking advantage of the time spent by users actively managing and navigating their playlist, which can then be offered to other users. There are copyright issues impacting the company, which was founded in 2007 by Asa Raskin and is currently headed by CEO and co-founder Elias Roman.

Condition One

Condition One is a "technology company developing next generation immersive video applications." Their flagship product is an embeddable immersive video player for the iPad / iPhone, which the company licenses to media companies and brands. It integrates seamlessly into existing applications or can be launched as a standalone product. It works within existing video production workflows and does not require specialized hardware. According to Condition OneCEO and founder of Danfung Dennis, "Our goal is to help consumers, big brands andCondition+Onepublishers create videos that allow people to live inside a moment, letting them act as if they are in a given place, experiencing it firsthand. Condition One doesn't just open a window into another world - it makes the viewer an active participant." The showcase iPad app features a wide range of sample content including travel, sports, news, music and entertainment. Dennis is a war photographer with a passion for photography and video and has made it his life's mission to give people an inside look into events happening around the world. His work has been published in The New York Times, Time and Newsweek., Dennis was embedded with combat forces in Afghanistan, producing the Academy Award nominated documentary Hell and Back Again. Condition One works on the iPad and iPhone. Lead investor is Mark Cuban and current clients include the NBA, Discovery Communications, Mercedes, The Guardian, XL Recordings and Popular Science.

Rewind.me

Based in New York City, Rewind.me is an innovate startup company that lets users look back on their digital history, including where they were mentioned, what they viewed, where they checked in, and what they liked. Not only do users benefit from becoming familiar with their history on the Internet, primarily through social media websites, but advertisers have a new and unique way to reach out to potential consumers of their products or services. For example, Rewind.me will letRewnd.meusers know what they liked on Facebook, what hashtags they used on Twitter, where they checked in at on Foursquare, and much more. Users are gaining a new perspective on themselves while reliving these moments and gaining new memories. It also lets others get to know a user better as they get a quick view of the person's likes and dislikes, favorite places, and other important facts.

For marketers, rewind.me can personalize matches based on potential customer profiles. As consumers register with rewind.me, they review the places they visited, products they purchased and on which they commented, and get a general idea of what they have done during their digital past. Advertisers use this knowledge to find consumers who have the greatest potential of purchasing their products. Craig Danuloff, the founder of rewind.me who previously founded the iCat Corporation and ClickEquations,, says: "The digital history that we're each creating with the apps and services we use, has the potential to dramatically improve our lives. All of our investors share our view that people should own and control their own data, and that by aggregating this data we can offer them important personal, social, and economic benefits."

Investors include First Round Capital, TechStars, New World Ventures, Silicon Alley Venture Partners along with angel investors Esther Dyson, Erik Jansen, Barry Silbert, Jon Peachey, Greg Cangialosi, Ed Zimmerman, Greg Raifman, and Josh Guttman.

Memolane, Dipity and Wander

Memolane provides a timeline of digital memories, including photos, music, messages, and actions Users can view their entire history of activity on Spotify, Flickr, Foursquare, Twitter,memolaneFacebook, and other social sites. Users enter as much or as little information as they want and receives an updated timeline of actions from the sites they've chosen, including posts liked, hashtags used, places checked in, friends added, and pictures uploaded. Users can revisit months or even years of their digital history. For example, if you've forgotten what restaurant you visited six months ago, you can find it in your timeline, provided you checked in at the time. Any approved friend, family member or colleague can add or contribute to timelines, integrating group outings and special occasions. The marketing issue is whether timelines provide an effective behavioral advertising resource. To date, Memolane has received $2 million in funding from founder and CEO Eric Lagier, August Capital and Atomico/Skype founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis.

Another company, www.Dipity.com , also creates a visual timeline, but with fewer options and details than Memolane. Wander, founded by Jeremy Fisher and Keenan Cummings, is a social media company that lets users share what places they have visited, what they meant to them, how much they were enjoyed, and what they did there. Wander works by creating "wanderlogs", whichDipityis essentially a timeline of places they have been and things they have done there. Users can share their wanderlogs with friends and other users, recommending various shopping ventures, locations, restaurants, etc. A wanderlog can include user recommendations for everything from restaurants and hotels to popular tattoo shops. Like Yelp, Wander lists various places by location with reviews by people that have been there, and is similar to Pinterest in the layout and social interaction. Brands and retailers receive a @mention when they are named in an update. Investors include NextView Ventures, SoftTech VC, Google Ventures, Collaborative Fund, SV Angel and TechStars.

Bondsy

If you have ever wanted to trade your unwanted items and see them go to friends or acquaintances -- rather than a stranger, then you will understand why Bondsy has the potential to be a next big thing. Bondsy is a mobile app that lets users unload their unwanted items through trading or bartering. The app includes a social media aspect where you add your friends, family, andBondsyco-workers to your Bondsy so that you know who you're trading or selling items to. In this way, you can trust the trade because there isn't more than a two-degree of separation between you and buyers. Upload a photo of the item, set a price/value and allow others to bid with barter or trading offers. You have the option to sell items for cash. Founder and CEO Diego Zambrano says this type of trading has been in existence in social media applications, and he wanted to create a safe place beyond the public frame of Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Craigslist and Ebay Classifieds. Lead investor is Thrive Capital

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