While the folks at GroupMe have spent some time exploring the world outside group messaging, they certainly haven’t given up on refining the formula that made them so appealing in the first place. Earlier today, GroupMe pushed out a pair of considerable updates that add some curious (and tremendously thoughtful) features the company’s iOS and Android apps. → Read More
The team at GroupMe has certainly had an impressive ride so far — after winning the Disrupt NY Hackathon in 2010, they quickly locked up some funding, and were eventually acquired by Skype.
So what’s next for GroupMe co-founders Jared Hecht and Steve Martocci? As it turns out, they’re looking to get into the group-buying game, and to that end they have just launched a new service called… → Read More
They raised $11.45 million, acquired a company called Sensobi, and were themselves acquired by Skype for a price that was likely well north of $43 million.
There may not be a wilder tale of a Disrupt success (though plenty of startups would beg to differ), which is why we’ve chosen GroupMe to kick off a series I’m doing on “Disrupt Startups: Where They Are Now.” → Read More
Unemployment continues to be an issue here in the States, but the tech industry could prove a very valuable resource when it comes to building out the American work force. That said, I sat down with GroupMe co-founder Steve Martocci who may have a plan to help solve the problem.
In conjunction with former White House CTO Aneesh Chopra, musician Jon Bon Jovi, and Gilt Groupe’s Vice President… → Read More
Ah, the majestic serial entrepreneur in its natural habitat. GroupMe may have cashed out with a $50+ million acquisition by Skype (after the initial product was built overnight at a TechCrunch Hackathon, no less), but that doesn’t mean its founders are about to yacht up and sail off into retirement.
At this morning’s Twilio Conference, Twilio CEO Jeff Lawson brought GroupMe co-founder Steve… → Read More
On Sunday we broke the news that Skype was acquiring group messaging service GroupMe. What we didn’t know was the price, and neither company disclosed any of the terms of the deal other than that GroupMe would remain a standalone brand for now, and the team would stay in New York.
A widely spread report said that Skype paid as much as $85 million for the year-old company. We’ve heard this… → Read More
Skype will acquire group messaging service GroupMe, a service that was born at a hackathon at TechCrunch Disrupt in New York in 2010. GroupMe was founded by Jared Hecht and Steve Martocci.
The terms of the deal, including price, aren’t being disclosed.
Just a couple of months after TechCrunch Disrupt the company closed a $850,000 round of financing from Betaworks, SV Angel, First Round… → Read More
Talent scouting at the 2011 Hackathon in Manhattan today, TCTV caught up with three alumni hax0rz and one n00b, who gave us a sneak peek of their apps and ideas. They included: a couple of dating sites, one with a hyper local twist, a mobile web application that lets you see nearby job opportunities using data from your Foursquare network and… → Read More
As group texting apps like GroupMe gain popularity, people are using them to create ad hoc, private social networks among a handful of friends. But wherever people congregate online or through their mobile phones, brands will want to talk to them. Today, GroupMe is opening up its group chat to brands in what is the first hint at it business model: Featured Groups.
Brands can create their own… → Read More
SXSW Interactive is no longer about the panels or keynotes, having become a five day experiment in the ability of technology to withstand the load of over 20,000 influencers congregated in the same location, trying to network using various digital tools. It’s some sort of sped up playground for app and device Darwinism, where the rest of the world functioning as a control group.
There are few things better than free beer. Mix that with melted cheese and toasted bread, and you have a combination that satisfies even the deepest of human desires. And they’re available just outside the main convention center at SXSW, both free of charge.
The food is being provided by GroupMe, the group messaging app that, along with competitors like Beluga and Fast Society, has received… → Read More
Startups gearing up for the SXSW are shining up their apps and hoping to Wow the crowds of iPhone-toting hipsters by releasing major upgrades in advance of the Austin conference. Among group texting apps alone, in the past week we’ve seen new releases from GroupMe, Fast Society, Beluga, and others. Everyone’s put their best face forward and now the race is on to see which one will become the… → Read More
If you are a group texting startup worth your salt, you’ve got to have a new app ready for the upcoming SXSW conference in Austin. GroupMe, Beluga (which was just bought by Facebook), Kik, TextPlus, and offshoots like Yobongo will all be strutting their stuff. Not to be outdone, Fast Society just pushed out a completely revamped iPhone app and an Android app is coming out today as well.
I… → Read More
It’s war!
This week, I went to the unveiling of the iPad 2 and got some hands-on time with the device afterwards. Meanwhile, Jason bought a Xoom and has been extensively testing it out. The consensus? iPad 2: Good. Xoom: Bad. At least for now. I haven’t extensively played with iPad 2 yet, and Google is undoubtedly going to patch the Xoom. But still, first impressions are key.
Jason and I discuss… → Read More
Well, well, looky here. GroupMe just got a lot app-friendlier. The group texting app is pushing out a massive new update today for both the iPhone and Android that supports push notifications as the default messaging option instead of costly SMS, maps, inline photos in chats, better Foursquare integration, and contact syncing with Twitter, Facebook, and email.
Up until now, the GroupMe app was… → Read More
A month ago, we detailed a new location-based realtime chat service called Yobongo. At the time, co-founder Caleb Elston didn’t want us to show shots of the app in action because it was still a work-in-progress. But now he’s finally comfortable enough with everything that he’s asking beta testers to do just that. And he should be, as the app both looks great and needs to be ready to go for the… → Read More
TechCrunch Disrupt finalist Groupme has launched a cool new feature today, in advance of tomorrow’s Foursquare hackday. People who link their Foursquare accounts to Groupme here can pull up an interface of all friends in the vicinity of their last checkin. You can then select which friends you want to be a part of a group, and the app will notify those selected with a text and the group’s… → Read More
Call it the anti-Facebook effect, but this private group text messaging thing is starting to get some serious traction. The chart above shows the growth in text messages per day going through GroupMe, the group chat startup that launched last May at the TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon. By the time our San Francisco Disrupt came around in September, GroupMe had reached its one millionth cumulative… → Read More
In this week’s episode of Fly or Die, the show where CrunchGear editor John Biggs and I attempt to predict the survival chances of hot new products, we did a special Crunchies edition. Each of the companies we feature—GroupMe, Uber, and Square—was nominated for a Crunchie award. At some point in the show, a founder of one of the three companies comes on to respond to our verdicts (we don’t… → Read More
When a good idea comes along, often what you see are multiple startups pop up who were all working on it independently but launch around the same time. Look at Foursquare and Gowalla in geo-location apps or Instagram, PicPlz, and Path in geo-photo apps. Right now, a lot of the action seems to be in group messaging, with Groupme, Beluga, and Fast Society all vying for mobile group supremacy. … → Read More
GroupMe, a startup conceived at the TechCrunch Disrupt: New York hackathon, has closed its second round of financing. This new round, $10.6 million, is a big round for a startup that’s just 8 months old and had previously raised $850,000.
Khosla Ventures led the round, and partner David Wieden joins their board of directors. New investor General Catalyst Partners also participated, as did… → Read More
Group messaging has been something that has been pretty hot for a while now. In fact, it’s gotten so hot that products from other hot spaces are starting to pivot towards it — see: Brightkite. But despite the hotness, I’ve yet to find one of these apps that really hooks me. But a new entry in the space, Beluga, may just be my elusive white whale.
As first covered yesterday by blogger Louis… → Read More
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