You may remember Akoha, a startup which launched at the 2008 TechCrunch50 conference which uses “mission cards” that friends pass to each other along with a mission ( i.e. give someone a book or buy someone a meal.) The idea is that users will socialize their missions, using your social graph to compete against friends and determine how your missions performed. Akoha has been played in more than 65 countries since the company’s launch.
Today, Akoha is launching an free iPhone app and a redesign of its site. Akoha’s iPhone app. With the new app, Akoha has increased the number of missions that can be played. A now Akoha is rewarding players for completed missions with badges, similar to Foursquare’s badge model. Akoha is also allowing users to socialize missions by integrating with Twitter to allow users to broadcast completed tasks.
Akoha was founded by Austin Hill and Alex Eberts, who together co-founded Zero-Knowledge Systems (now Rdadialpoint) in 1997. In 2008, the startup received $1.9 million in funding from David Chamandy (co-founder, Lavalife), Ron Dembo (founder, Zerofootprint.net), film producer Jake Eberts (Chariots of Fire, Ghandi), and seed fund Montreal Start Up.
Hmmmmm….
Shouldn’t this just be a small feature or option on Foursquare? Doesn’t seem well thought out as a stand alone business. I’m betting deadpool in 4 months.
Missions do not have to be location-based. For example, you could have a mission to look something up in a book, and use that as a clue for the next step, etc. As such, it could end up being more of a game for friends, such as scavenger hunts. It could, however, incorporate check-ins as part of the missions.
Hi Lauren,
Good question. We are big fans of Foursquare. Foursquare is about where you are. At Akoha we believe that where we are does not define us, it’s more about what you do & who you want to be.
Would love your feedback on our application & the Akoha experience.
Congratulations Guys!
Thanks Pier-Oliver, the Akoha team did a great job on this release
Shouldn’t this just be a small feature or option on Foursquare? Doesn’t seem well thought out as a stand alone business.