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Chumby Picks Up $12.5 Million Series B Funding
Written by Allen Stern - March 31, 2008
Chumby Industries (love the name), makers of the Chumby Internet connected device, have picked up $12.5 million in Series B funding today. The lead investor was JK&B Capital, and other participants included existing venture investors, Avalon Ventures, Masthead Venture Partners and O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures. The company notes that the financing will be used to accelerate growth of the company, and expand and broaden the Chumby Network to other screen-based Internet connected devices. The device ain't cheap; it will run you about $200.
Chumby is a touch screen device that offers a widget buffet to let you customize it to your liking. Widgets include: news, sports, Facebook, Digg, horoscopes, weather, and a huge gallery of others. There are also corporate-sponsored widgets including those from CBS, MTV Networks, MySpace and The Weather Channel Interactive.
Here's a video I found that shows what happens when you turn on the Chumby for the first time. What a great way to introduce you to Chumby but also to welcome you to the family by having each team member interact with you.
Our Partners
Industry Standard just rated the Chumby Alarm Clock one of the 10 startups most likely to fail.
http://www.thestandard.com/news/2008/03/31/chumby-advertising-alarm-clock
I was about to buy one of these a while back until I saw the price. I think they should market this at sub 100.
It always amazes me how many tech firms have a high price which hurts their product sales. I guess they need to get the tech that is in it down in price.
If this was sub 100 I think it would be a killer christmas present, my first alarm clock type of a present.
this is for the SV crowd - they throw money at anything - just look at the macbook air and the iphone :)
The Chumby is the most useless thing I have ever bought.
Even if it was free I wouldn't use it.
There is absolutely ZERO value in that piece of junk.
It' not just "likely to fail" I WILL FAIL.
can you send it to me?
I disagree with Tom.
I reviewed the Chumby and the Nabaztag/tag talking rabbit this past weekend and found the Chumby to be much more useful and easier to use.
Here's my column and video review of the devices:
http://snipurl.com/233j5
I loved having it next to my bedside so I didn't have to run to the computer in the morning or at night just to do a simple tech task such as check my e-mail, check the weather or check what my Facebook friends were up to.
Besides those tasks, the Chumby is really versatile because it can serve as a digital photo frame, play Internet radio and it can also be speakers for an iPod. And it can play web video.
I do agree that the price is too high and I hope this funding means they can bring the price down.
I'd say the sweet spot is between $100 and $125.
Etan
Glad to see Chumby getting further funding, as I think their open source business product and idea will have a good change to take root among the many enthusiasts world-wide who enjoy modifying and customizing their gadgets. I linked to this piece in my blog post today at the Innovators-Network as this type of news is spot on for my readers. I'll be following news at CenterNetworks for more on breaking product information and innovative ideas.
Just buy an iPod touch and some little speakers and stick it in a foam case. Waaaay better.