Soluto nabs $10.5M for "anti-frustration software"

Most of the world is relatively computer literate, but only a scattered few netizens and tech users can truly be considered early adopters. Why? Because technology is effing frustrating, that’s why! I am not a technological troglodyte, but for God’s sake, is it so hard to make hardware and software that can be maintained and repaired by someone without a degree in engineering or computer science? See? Now I’m frustrated just thinking about how frustrating technology is. And that’s where Soluto is looking to make a difference. The company has developed what it calls “anti-frustration software,” and today the company is announcing a big vote of confidence from Index Ventures to the tune of $10.5 million.

Index Ventures led the Series B round, which also saw participation from existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners, Giza Venture Capital, and Proxima Ventures, bringing the company’s total raised to $18.3 million.

There are three features to the Soluto anti-frustration software solution. The first manages the frustration caused by sluggish booting. Soluto provides the user with a breakdown of all the applications running on the computer which could be contributing to the slow booting time, which ones can be safely removed from the boot (by pausing and opening the application only when it’s needed), and what the effect will be if the user removes those applications from the boot. This translates to fewer unnecessary applications dragging down the boot time.

Soluto also offers a unique crash feature, which analyzes program crashes on the user’s computer and compares it to crowdsourced data to determine if the crash is common among most users, or if this only happens to the individual user. The software then makes suggestions as to how to avoid future crashes.

And finally, the Web browser feature addresses the frustrations caused by slow Web browser performance. It does this by pointing out add-ons, toolbars, and plug-ins that you may not actually use or need, those that aren’t required for proper Web browsing, and those that you can disable based on your own understanding of them. The Web browser feature is compatible with Chrome, Firefox, and Explorer.

“As technology evolves, it becomes more and more complicated to the end user. There are 1.5B PCs around the world, many of their users are unhappy with them. Soluto’s goals – to solve the frustrations technology consumers face, and compel software developers to design responsibly, with the end user in mind – are both noble and promising," said Saul Klein, Partner at Index Ventures, who will be joining Soluto's board of directors. “We are very excited about Soluto. Their technology is advanced, their data is extremely valuable, and they employ a unique approach to tackling PC and other platforms' problems, through crowdsourcing.”

Founded in 2007, the Tel Aviv-based company plans to use the new funds from this round for product development and to expand its solution to mobile platforms.