aka-aki announced today that it has raised “several million euros” in a second round of financing from lead investor Creathor Venture joined by Paris-based venture capitalist firm Innovacom. Creathor Venture previously contributed funds to aka-aki’s first round of financing back in July 2008.
None of the technologies or features that go into aka-aki’s mobile social network are particularly unique in themselves, but the network distinguishes itself from others by placing its emphasis on real friends in nearby locations. Quoting Martin Buber’s philosophy that “all actual life is encounter,” aka-aki wants everybody to know that, unlike on Twitter and even Facebook, the aka-aki network is about actually connecting people in real life.
The application, which is currently available for free
on the iPhone and BlackBerry (Android support coming soon), displays pictures, common friends, and interests of the people nearby also utilizing the network. Friends looking to meet up can text each other for free using the program or check each other’s status updates, which can be set up to automatically cross-update Twitter accounts. Further, aka-aki may be looking to replace business cards, as the program stores data from previous encounters.
The application conveniently includes a “magic cap,” which prevents other users from spotting you, for those of us who like to control our visibility.
aka-aki started generating revenue last August when it started implementing advertising into its application.
Running for nearly two years now, aka-aki has accumulated about 350,000 users worldwide. With the closing of this new round of funding, the German-based company hopes to expand the growth of its blooming service, especially internationally. Though the app consistently places highly in the German App Store, it has yet to see widespread adoption abroad. aka-aki hopes to change that soon.
