MLB.com vets get funding for social media startup Hot Potato
Hot Potato is, to quote Media Memo, “a buzzy startup that’s supposed to let users converse about a particular event, whether they’re attending it in person or watching from afar.” The company, led by eight-year MLB.com veteran Justin Shaffe, is still under wraps, but Media Memo writer Peter Kafka has outed a $1 million funding round led by First Round Capital and RRE Ventures. Valley A-lister Ron Conway and real-time investment firm Betaworks have also invested undisclosed amounts.
Here’s what Kafka outed on the company:
“They are finishing an iPhone app and plan to submit it to Apple in the next few weeks, he said, and will open their doors once that’s approved.
“HotPotato will offer “a “curated stream” in real time of all this data coming out of the event in real time. What we’re really focused on doing is bringing together the entire audience of an event, whether they’re at the event or watching at home.”
Hot Potato has adopted the Twitter business model of We’ll Figure It Out Later But Our Logo is Pretty.
Next Story: Massive funding to lift Smart Grid companies. Look for it next month
Previous Story: VentureBeat-DEMO meetup in London — see you at the Sanderson Hotel
About the Author, Paul Boutin
Paul (paul@venturebeat.com) covers Apple & the iPhone, social networks & social media, digital music & video, and any crazy Internet story. Paul wrote and edited for Valleywag from 2006-2008, after several years with Wired magazine and Slate. He writes regularly for The New York Times' technology section and sometimes for Wired and The Wall Street Journal. He studied computer science at MIT in the early 1980s, and worked as a software developer and network administrator for 15 years before becoming a professional writer. Follow him on Twitter at @paulboutin, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.
-
Scott Hildebrand
-
nastia