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Pinger, Inc.

Product Name

Pinger

Market Segment

Consumer Internet

Funding

Series A: Venture funding from Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, $3 million.

Competitors

No direct competitors. Secondary competitors include Springdoo, Evoca, and Saynow on the consumer side, and Kodiak Networks, Core Mobility, Kirusa and Hey Anita on the carrier side.

Product Description

Pinger is instant voice messaging for your mobile phone. With Pinger you can send voice messages to someone instantly, with no ringing, no greetings and no lengthy prompts. Pinger is fast and efficient like email, but you use your voice. It’s mobile and instantaneous like text messaging, but with more personality. You can use Pinger to send a quick message when mobile, without bothering your contact and with no hassle to you.

Market Opportunity

Both SMS and instant messaging have gone from non-existent to essential communication tools for millions in less than a decade. Pinger is so basic and simple; it has the opportunity to become another tool in millions of people’s communication tool belts. Americans sent 49 billion text messages in the last half of 2005, according to CTIA. If Pinger is 1/100th that size, this is a huge business.

Demo Says

There is a simple genius to Pinger, a sort of “aha” application that combines the spontaneity of instant messaging, the intimacy of voice messaging and the functionality of email. I expect Pinger will spread like wildfire and become the preferred way for work groups, friends and families to communicate.