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Media - Monday, February 27, 2006

SmileBox Raises $6M From Seattle Web Swells

Smilebox has raised $5M in Series A led by Frazier Technology Ventures with a murderers' row of angels including Rob Glaser (Real Networks), Rob Burgiss (former Macromedia chairman) and Jonathan Gay (former Macromedia CTO). Smilebox CEO Andrew Wright was the former VP of games at RealNetworks.

Smilebox is selling customized digital greeting cards that might include family photo, a favorite song with a background thematic Flash-based animations. It will cost about $2 to create the digital programs, although a free version also will be available via a sponsorship. Initial distribution comes via Shockwave and Big Fish Games which will promote SmileBox on their sites.

Smilebox is in the unenviable position of trying to make a category brand stick. "Smilebox creates a new category of service called 'creative messaging,' which draws from related categories including photo services, scrapbooking and greetings; delivering a new medium for communication that is unparalleled in its ability to convey mood, thought and emotion." Afraid to say the demo leaves us cold and bored. Like Slide, which we recently profiled, these guys have a lot of work to do to have something special.

SmileBox Is Launching at Demo This Week; But Its Demo Is Unimpressive

Read - Smilebox hopes to offer new kind of personalized greeting (Seattle PI)