Stealthy Startup timeRAZOR Raises $3.4M Pre-Launch, Partners With Major Household Brands

Got FOMO? (That’s “fear of missing out” for those of you who don’t do slang.) There will soon be an app for that, or so says the $3.4 million in angel funding the stealthy D.C.-area startup calledtimeRAZOR has raised. In its pre-launch state, the curious company is already lining up brand partnerships with big names like Marriott and L’Oreal in preparation for its March debut.
But what the heck is a timeRAZOR?
According to CEO and co-founder, Jeff White (formerly the founder of govWin), timeRAZOR is a mobile application that will help people discover interesting and relevant things to do close to where they are.
“We’re an app that keeps you connected with what’s going on so you don’t miss out on the things you want to do while juggling the things you need to do,” he tells us.
Oh, so it’s like calendar 2.0 then? Well sort of. Maybe. The app is also using some sort of smart, patent-pending technology to offer serendipitous discovery of those “things going on” nearby the places you’re planning to be. This is where the brand partnerships come in, apparently.
“TimeRAZOR includes a predictive marketing element [brands] find enticing. Our ability to allow brands to be inserted in the highly intimate, welcomed, non-invasive engagement with our users is very enticing,” White explains. Companies currently working with the startup include L’Oreal’s Active Cosmetics Division, Marriott Renaissance Hotels, World Adult Kickboxing Association (WAKA), Vail Valley Foundation, JetSet Studios, several local retail properties (The Shops at Dos Lagos, The Village at Leesburg and West 7th), and Boston-area HWS Group’s four minor league baseball teams.
Additional details are being kept close to the chest, though. And frankly, none of this is much to go on. White says the company will announce exactly how the partners are working with timeRAZOR in the next few weeks.
Also interesting is timeRAZOR’s board of advisors, which include comScore co-founder Linda Abraham, former Microsoft exec Eddie Amos and Gene Riechers, co-founder and senior advisor atValhalla Partners.
White and timeRAZAR co-founder Victoria Clark, also formerly of govWin, began work on the product back in June 2011. It looks like the funding actually closed in the fall, but the company is just now making the announcement as they ramp up to launch. It’s kind of intriguing to see that a few name brands (and other smaller brands) have signed on to participate in timeRAZOR when the service hasn’t even launched yet. However, without knowing the details it’s hard to say whether the brands were just having a case of FOMO themselves, or if there’s really something here.
Source:http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/08/stealthy-startup-timerazor-raises-3-4m-pre-launch-partners-with-major-household-brands/