Banglore-based Lifeblob, a blogging, picture and video sharing engine where all your posts are arranged as a timeline, has received seed capital financing from Seedfund. Lifeblob links the diary entry that you make with the entry of other people mentioned or involved in the event recorded. So your diary entry becomes a part of other people’s post also. Lifeblob, which was showcased at Proto this year, received a thumbs up when reviewed by Clearstone’s Rahul Khanna on .
The company has received $1 million in funding, which will be in tranches depending on reaching the given milestones. Pranav Bhasin, one of the co-founders of Lifeblob, confirmed this development to VC Circle. “Now user acquisition is the biggest focus for us. In the next year or so we want to be known as the global company which has an international presence,†said Bhasin. The other co-founders of Lifeblob are Rakesh Rajan and Vishnu GS. Lifeblob, which currently is a team of three people, now plans to build a development team of 6-7 people and also get a product manager on board. Lifeblob also plans to develop Facebook, mobile and desktop applications.
Business Model and Monetisation Plans
For the time being Lifeblob plans to use banner advertisement and paid subscription to provide additional value or target niche segments. “All services of this kind have more than a million users. So when we reach that critical mass, we would have reached a major milestone,†said Bhasin. “After we reach that point we plan to form strategic partnerships for merchandising. Also various companies can have their timelines on Lifeblob, which can be used by them to target the audiences which fit their customer profile,†explained Bhasin.
What Lies Ahead
With the funding now in place, Lifeblob has a series product launches ahead. By end of this month we will see a ‘Public Timeline’, in which people can volunteer and collaborate to build timeline of a public figure or an event. Also in the offing is Facebook and mobile application of Lifeblob in the next couple of months. “You will see the first version of these applications in the next 2-3 months, which we will keep improving according to user feedback, their needs and what they find useful,†said Bhasin. Lifeblob is using in house expertise to develop these applications. Lifeblob is also developing a desktop application. Also as 3G and WiMax become popular, they will allow users of Lifeblob to upload multimedia from their mobile phones.
User Acquisition Plans
Although started last year with membership by invitation only, Lifeblob has manged to get 1,000 users. It now has 7,000-8,000 users waiting in cue. But now Lifeblob is open to everyone. “Till now we were controlling how we grow. But since last week we have opened up our membership to everyone,†Bhasin added.
Lifeblob is now planning to expand its user base aggressively and the first target market will be theUSas Bhasin believes audiences there are early adaptors and will be able to get a lot of value from this service. “Also the idea is a little ahead of its time for India but this seems to be a perfect time for this service to be targeting a market in the US and UK,†explained Bhasin. Lifeblob, which also registered in theUSas a LLC, may also open up a office there soon.
Lifeblobs focus to get more users inIndia will be on the mobile channel rather on the web channel. “Once we have the a mobile application, it will become more interesting for the users inIndia. We would use the mobile channel to leverage audiences inIndia,†added Bhasin. Also Lifeblob is now planning to add various viral loops into the diary entries so that people mentioned in a story get an invite to join Lifeblob.
