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Location based social network IRL Connect gets seed capital

Ernst-Jan Written on 10th April 2008                                                                                                              7 COMMENTS some text
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief

Everything about Dutch start-up IRL Connect revolves around one question: Where are you? It’s a location based social network that is expected to go into private beta in June. Co-founder and CEO Frank Schuil mailed me today that IRL got seed funding from IntoBeta and private investment company Van de Wijgerd. Both companies took a share in IRL and will advice Schuil and his team on how to develop the service. Schuil: “The investment of IntoBeta BV and Van de Wijgerd BV enables us to move forward. Both parties have extended experience and know what it takes to build a solid web application and raise venture capital. This means a short and long term advantage.”

Frank Schuil signs the contract
Frank Schuil signs the contract

Joost van de Wijgerd about the investment in IRL: “I’m convinced that Location Based Social Networking, Social Network Aggregation and developments such as OpenSocial are the big thing for 2008 and 2009. IRLConnect combines these items in a slick visual app with a cool interaction model.”

The ambitions of IRL sound good: by connecting MySpace, Facebook and other social networks with Google Maps, IRL wants to make your friends from social networks visible on a map. So IRL Connect makes a link between your online and off line life. I do think that they may better hurry, since similar initiatives are popping up. For example, Yahoo is developing FireEagle. A service that is also all about letting know where you are. It’s the new hype, obviously, and I hope for IRL Connect that they find a way to stand out from the crowd.

About the author: Ernst-Jan is blogger and co-organizer of BLOG08, who previously worked in New York to cover news at the United Nations. Next to writing, he's also a singer in the band Christina Five. Follow him on Twitter or read his personal blog Dutchproblogger.com .

7 comments to “Location based social network IRL Connect gets seed capital”

  1. By Jerry Houtman on Apr 10, 2008

    Congratulations Frank and the others!! I’ve been watching IRL for a while now, I hope they do succeed. This should be a firm step in the right direction.

    As for FireEagle; I requested an invite over a month ago. Does it really take that long?

    Reply

  2. By Danny Bull on Apr 10, 2008

    We’ve believed in location based social networking at My Neighbourhoods for a while now and it’s good to see some serious funding going into the area elsewhere in Europe.

    Reply

  3. By Rutger Docter on Apr 10, 2008

    Congrats Frank!

    Reply

  4. By Aaron Peters on Apr 10, 2008

    Frank is a nice, passionate and smart guy. I’m sure he can pull this off and make IRL Connect into a success.
    Congratulations!

    Reply

  5. By Peter Evers on Apr 10, 2008

    Congratulations Frank! Good luck!

    What about IRL on mobile? Location information is obviously very relevant to the mobile medium…

    Reply

  6. By Frank Schuil on Apr 10, 2008

    Thank you all very much!

    @danny bull: nice to hear. Good luck with your service!
    @peter evers: we are well aware of that. It’s one step at a time for us.

    Reply

  7. By edgar neo | BViT incubators & lead investors on Apr 12, 2008

    hi frank,

    congratulations. let’s sit down real soon to see what role BViT can have in this…..

    with entrepreneurial regards,

    edgar neo

    Reply

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