Google Ventures, the corporate venturing unit of the US-based technology company, has helped Echoecho [pictured – the mythical Echo], a mobile application company, to raise $750,000.
Google Ventures was joined by ProFounders Capital in the seed round. Google Ventures partner David Krane said to Global Corporate Venturing last month that it was looking to do as many as 50 seed deals this year.
The company, which was launched last month, had initially been looking for angel funding, but its search drew interest from the venture capital firms.
Nick Bicanic, chief executive of Echoecho, said: "We used AngelList [a venture capital networking site] to leverage our negotiations. Even though the deal didn’t come through it, the attention we got made the venture capitalists sit up and pay attention. Our dealflow benefitted a lot from it, which speaks to a trend that venture capitalists are taking lower and lower positions. The reason they are doing that is the angels are taking their lunch, and they got more aggressive when they realised there were angels circling."
Wesley Chan, partner at Google Ventures, said: "Echoecho is in a growing space where consumers are using their mobile devices for everything social in their daily lives. We are excited to be working with Echoecho as they have created a simple yet elegant solution to help people find each other quickly."
Echoecho’s application allows users to find out where there friends are using a mobile phone.