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Social Networking - Friday, June 20, 2008

German Kinder Site Smoodoos Raises First Round

Community sites for kids have proven to be a winner. Just ask the founders of Club Penguin or Webkinz. But it has to start out in a genuine way. It cannot be the product of corporate AOL's Q4 goals. With that, it seems that Smoodoos is off to a good start as the startup was founded by a husband/wife duo who say they were inspired by their children's behavior online. Smoodoos was founded in in 2006 by Saskia and Justus Schneider (he was Head of Global Marketing at Mercedes-Benz Passenger Cars).

Like Webkinz, Smoodoos is an online/offline double-threat. Kids are welcomed to the site with safe chatting and play, and then encouraged to buy toy pets offline.

The German VC firm Earlybird says that is has made an investment in Munich-based Smoodoos, although the amount is not disclosed. The plan is to grow Smoodoos outside of Germany.

Smoodoos is dropping some Marks on commercials like these.

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