Wishberg, a startup that lets users share a “bucket list” of their goals, announced that it has raised $150,000 in seed funding from India Quotient, a venture capital fund that focuses on early stage companies. The round also includes participation from angel investors including Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Chairman and Managing Director of mobile Internet company One97 Communications, and Uday Sodhi, CEO of job portal HeadHonchos.
Based in Mumbai, Wishberg gives users a platform to share wishes ranging from material desires (“Buy an iPad Mini”) to loftier goals (“Climb Mount Everest”). There are similar online communities such as Web sites BucketList.org and Drimmit, and a lot of people also use Pinterest to make lists of things they want to buy or save motivational articles and art. Wishberg wants to differentiate itself by focusing on features that help users manage and achieve goals. For example, the site lets people share their progress on a goal, create a timeline of when they want it to be fulfilled or post their experiences once they complete something. Trending wishes give a look into the Wishberg community’s most popular goals.
Founder Pravin Jadhav says future monetization possibilities include partnering with companies and retailers to offer the things–gadgets, cars, books, clothing or travel tickets–that people wish for (if it pursues that vertical, the site would compete most directly with Amazon’s universal Wish List and Pinterest as it adds more Promoted Pins). Wishberg’s team is currently focused on growth and engagement. Last week, it launched community pages where users with the same goals can connect with one another or ask for advice from people who have already achieved that particular wish. One example of Wishberg’s community pages, which Jadhav describes as “Quora for wishes,” is this one for travelers who want to explore all seven continents.
Though Wishberg may eventually compete with e-commerce sites like Amazon, Jadhav hopes the site will continue to set itself apart by encouraging people to make thoughtful, long-term goals. While Pinterest and Facebook encourage people to impulsively pin or like items, a site like Wishberg is meant to be more personal, he says.
Wishberg currently has nine employees, including founders Jadhav, who was previously Product Head (in e-commerce and mobile) at Rediff.com India Limited and Product and Marketing Head at advertising technology venture Ohana Media, and Kulin Shah, a former Senior Investment Manager at Reliance Venture Asset Management, the venture capital arm of Reliance ADAG.