Calendar company Trumba gets $8 million. Yep, it’s crowded.

November 18, 2005 | Matt Marshall | Comments | |
trumba2.gif

Trumba, a Seattle start-up that lets you share your calendar with others online, has raised $8 million in Series B funding, according to PEW (scroll way down).

But with Silicon Valley companies like Zimbra (which has raised $16M), AirSet ($2M internally) and others (we met yesterday with someone who is eager to launch) now in this space with free products for individual users, we’re wondering why Trumba thinks they can get away with charging $40 a pop per year? Even if you do pay, you wouldn’t be able to…

share with others — unless they pay too. Tough proposition, as our colleague Langberg said. Or is that why Trumba raised $8 million — so they can afford to give it away and make money some other way?

Anyway, Trumba’s investors in this round include Oak Investment Partners, and existing backers August Capital and Kleiner Perkins.

Airset, by the way, told us they planned to raise outside capital after generating some revenue, which they predicted would be late-summer with the release of a mobile software version (btw, you’re hosed if you’re a start-up and don’t have a mobile version these days). So perhaps we will hear from them soon too. Airset is based in Pleasant Hill, on the northeast fringe of the Bay Area.

Next Story: Schwarzenegger’s trip to China a sham?
Previous Story: Judy’s Book raises cash. Psst: It’s pretty crowded.

Bookmark and Share

Photo of Matt Marshall

About the Author, Matt Marshall

Matt Marshall is editor and CEO of VentureBeat. Follow him on Twitter at @mmarshall, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.

  • This is ridiculous. If anyone wonders if we're in a bubble this is proof. And I'm not speaking out of my hat- I manage a division of an SaaS company that sells a collaboration suite including shared calendars, files, Gb email, contacts, IM and more. Their price point is not competitive and their product is not innovative. In any case if we wait a few days someone will announce an Ajax online calendar for free...of course they won't be able to support or scale it but...
  • You guys made this up! KP really invested in this? Geez, I must really be missing something. How exactly is this a business?
  • DavidGong
    When one thinks Calendar is a CALENDAR, then bubbles are flying everywhere; but think Calendar is NOT a CALENDAR, then things begin to make sense. It's hardly the technologies behind it that's essential, it's MvM and MvA needs.
  • can you say "bubblicious" with me now?
  • Julie Patrick
    or go the free route with something like rsscalendar.com or upcoming.org.
  • We would be remiss not to make our presence felt in this community too - check out Mediabee Family Dashboard (http://mediabee.com/dashboard).

    Mediabee focuses on home calendaring and mom as the primary household organizer and attempts to break down the barriers to adoption of non-paper solutions, because the vast majority of households still use paper calendars. Some have called it "Outlook for the home", but that doesn't do it justice.

    It is by no means a solution for everyone, but thousands of users, including some in the valley (gasp), and even some small businesses, have found it works well for them.