Quirky Fills Its Product Development War Chest;
Secures $6 Million in Series A Funding
New York, NY, April 7, 2010 -- Today marks a major milestone for Social Product DevelopmentTM.
Quirky, a company that collaboratively designs consumer products and shares revenue with its online community, has raised $6 million in Series A capital.
“In just nine short months, Quirky’s active community has influenced the development of 12 products that are being distributed worldwide. Seeing our community members cash in on this collective success really makes us proud,” says Ben Kaufman, Quirky’s Founder and CEO.
Quirky’s Series A funding round was led by RRE Ventures, and included participation from Village Ventures, Contour Venture Partners, Lowercase Capital and a small group of angel investors. Prior to the closing of this round, Quirky had raised $1.6 million in seed capital from friends and family.
Mitch Lowe, former founder and CEO of Jumpstart Automotive Media, will join as Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors and maintain an active role in Quirky's day-to-day operations. James D. Robinson IV of RRE Ventures will also take a seat on the Board of Directors.
"I am delighted to be joining forces with the Quirky team," says Robinson. "Ben is a great serial entrepreneur and combining his instincts and energy with Mitch's proven ability to build and manage rapidly growing companies delivers a rare one-two punch in the startup world. They are building a great business."
“Together with a growing group of talented individuals from around the world, we are on our way to building a killer consumer product brand, and we couldn't be happier,” says Kaufman.
Beyond a steady stream of new and innovative products, the next phase of Quirky will include construction of a full-scale rapid prototyping shop, a global sales force, greater retail distribution, 24-hour design and engineering capacities, and added interactive collaboration tools.
About Quirky: Quirky is a social product development company founded in June 2009. Each week, Quirky engages its online community of more than 20,000 individuals from around the world to collaborate in every aspect of a product’s creation -- from ideation, design, naming and marketing, right on through to sales. Anyone can participate in this process either by submitting their own ideas, or by evaluating and contributing to others' ideas. The final product becomes available for pre-sale in Quirky’s online store (quirky.com/products) and if it reaches a certain sales threshold, it goes into production and becomes available worldwide. Quirky then shares its product-based revenue with all the community members that positively influenced the product.
About RRE Ventures: Since its founding in 1994, RRE Ventures remains one of the most experienced and well-connected New York venture capital firms. RRE focuses on helping talented entrepreneurs and management teams build great companies while generating superior returns for its investors. With a New York orientation and through active participation leveraging its knowledge, experience and relationships, RRE has $850 million under management, four funds and 45 active companies, and has invested in 115 companies throughout more than 16 years of venture investing, with 35 of those investments in the New York area. You can learn more about RRE’s partners and professionals and review a sample of portfolio companies at www.rre.com.
Contact:
Tiffany Markofsky
tiffany@quirky.com
305.710.2960
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