Smartpen maker Livescribe raises $10M

February 9, 2009 | Anthony Ha | Comments | |

Livescribe, which makes a smartpen that includes its own display, microprocessor, and audio recorder, has raised another $10.175 million in funding.

The Pulse pen’s recording feature means users have an audio recording to supplement and correct their hand-written notes. That’s something I would have loved as a student, and could be even more useful to me now, as a journalist. The product is targeted at professionals and college students. On Feb. 17, the Oakland, Calif. company is also taking the Mac version of its software out of beta testing (which is started last November.)

Livescribe says it will be expanding internationally and opening its third-party application store later this year. The app store is perhaps the most promising thing about the Pulse, since it turns the smartpen into a platform for a whole bunch of business and productivity applications; more than 2,900 developers have already signed up to use the Livescribe platform.

The company has been getting a lot of positive press, stretching from the DEMO God award in January 2008 to a “Best of Show” award at the most recent MacWorld. The pen went on sale in June, but Livescribe isn’t releasing any sales numbers. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve been low, especially for the last few months. Many potential buyers probably view the Pulse as a luxury that can be cut from the budget in tight times.

The round was led by Lionhart Investments and Vantage Point Venture Partners. This brings Livescribe’s total funding to more than $40 million.

Update: A Livescribe “campus representative” popped up in the comments below and is offering a discount for VentureBeat readers.

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About the Author, Anthony Ha

Anthony is VentureBeat's assistant editor, as well as its reporter on enterprise technology, cloud computing, and tech policy. Before joining VentureBeat in 2008, Anthony worked at the Hollister Free Lance, where he won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for breaking news coverage and writing. He attended Stanford University and now lives in San Francisco. Reach him at anthony@venturebeat.com. You can also follow Anthony on Twitter.

  • Kal
    #

    I’ve been using the pen for a while now - i love it! I’m a college student with a bioengineering major and use the pen for all my engineering classes. Studying really is a breeze with it. I just re-listen to the parts I was hazy on/my notes weren’t as clear. I also share my notes with a lot of friends using the “Livescribe Online” feature so they can take advantage of my notes along with the synced audio.

    Let me know if you guys have any questions!

    Also, I’m actually a campus representative for Livescribe at UC Berkeley. Hence, I have a discount code for you guys: PULSE5A10 that works at http://www.livescribe.com

    Kal
    kalpit210@gmail.com
  • Cool.
  • Hmmm. Show me a VC that will fund something that Logitech has been manufacturing for at least several years already.
  • Well, I think the platform is more interesting than the product. Also, VCs didn't just fund it, they funded it for $40+M. Yowza.
  • "Platform" sounds so much 2008-ish.
  • Mea
    I have been using it too. It has been at least six months now. I feel it is very much helpful. I am a professional, and have used it for several meetings, I guess it is much helpful when I want to recall any part of the meeting and also, it helps to share the MoM without even writing it all I need to do is share it online with my colleagues.
  • Billy
    I got one of these and have been using it for a while now. It works great and I love the ability to share it with friends.
  • luckyzhu
    It has been at least six months now. I feel it is very much helpful. I am a professional, and have used it for several meetings, I guess it is much helpful when I want to recall any part of the meeting and also, it helps to share the MoM without tiffany rings even writing it all I need to do is share it online with my colleagues.