TekTrak gets seed money to find your phone

The app lets users call the phone or locate it on a map

Yesterday I was on a plane and went to plug my earphones into my iPhone to listen to music, and my phone—with its super sleek, streamlined design—slid off my lap and in between the seats, which made for one of those awkward moments where you have to tap the person next to you and ask them to move.  The whole experience was oddly reminiscent of a near-death experience. I started imagining what would’ve happened if I didn’t realize my phone had fallen—what if it just slipped out of my purse and dropped while I was napping?  

It isn’t that uncommon for people to lose their uber-expensive mobile devices.  An estimated 20-30% of mobile users lose their phones each year, and a number of phone-locating apps have started up to help find lost devices.  One such startup, TekTrack, announced Tuesday that it has raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from such notable investors as Cyan and Scott Banister, Kima Ventures, Sergey Grishin, Wasabi Ventures, PBWorks, BCITL Ventures, Barney Pell, and Yoni Saban. 

Like other device-locating apps, TekTrak uses your phone’s GPS to pinpoint its geographic location, if it’s a situation where you think you may have left your phone at a hotel, restaurant, or, as I’ve done, at a party (when I got my phone back it smelled like vodka, which is why, apart from my iPhone, I don’t have nice things).  Or, if you set your phone down somewhere in your house and you just can’t find it, you can use your computer to call your phone just as you would on an old-timey landline.  

Unlike Apple’s MobileMe app, TekTrak can also access the device’s location history and its last known location (maybe you believe your phone was stolen and you want to trace the criminals to their secret lair?).

Launched November 3, the company started up with an interesting business model.  While most apps launch a free version first and then a pro version later on, TekTrak did the opposite, launching a paid version of the app that will be followed by a free version in 2011.  Normally, the app is $4.99, but the company is currently offering the app for $2.99 for the holidays.

“We started TekTrak with a vision of a simple service that anyone on any budget could use to find and secure their lost mobile devices,” said Arik Waldman, CEO of TekTrak, in a prepared statement. “This round of capital will let us expand that vision to include new platforms and expanded feature sets for our customers.”

TekTrak’s seed funding will be used to launch additional features and expand to include other mobile platforms, such as Android.

Image source: tektrak.com