New startup PLAiR raises $2.1M in seed funding

FLOODGATE invests in startup which is set to launch mystery product at the end of the summer

There really is something to be said for a good mystery. When a company that nobody has ever heard of announces that it raised money for a new product that nobody is allowed to know about, is it possible to not be at least a little intrigued?

A new startup called PLAiR has raised $2.1 million in seed funding from Roger McNamee and FLOODGATE, the company announced Wednesday.

The Santa Clara, Calif-based startup also announced that McNamee would be joining the company’s board as an observer and that Mike Maples, Jr., who co-founded FLOODGATE, will be joining the company’s board of directors.

PLAiR has been in stealth mode since it was founded in 2011 by Saad Hussain and Todd Wheeler, and is only coming out now in anticipation of the launch of a new secretive product.

VatorNews spoke to Hussain, who is also CEO of PLAiR. He would not divulge much about the product: not its name or what it does; only that it will be released at the end of this summer, at which time all would be revealed.

What Hussain would say, however, is that the product will be a “physical manifestation of Hypernet."

And what is Hypernet, you may be asking?

It seems to be a hypothetical structure that was invented by McNamee and Maples. Here is how Maples described the platform on the Hypernet Blog.

“Roger and I think the new infrastructure combines the web plus cellular plus WiFi (which we call the Hypernet), combined with potential new user experiences that involve billions of nodes and millions of clouds (which we call the Hyperweb).  We believe that these are the prime forces of a massive new gathering wave.  In the next few years, a handful of entrepreneurs will begin to build the enabling platforms that define some of the great technology companies of tomorrow.”

Hussain says PLAiR, which will open up new ways for people to have content delivered to them, will be one of the aforementioned platforms, though he would not say how that would work.

He wants people to have the “freedom that comes with being allowed to watch anything, anytime, anywhere,” Hussain said, and PLAiR will be providing the service that allows people to do just that.

“If there’s one team that can deliver a never-before-seen wireless technology that can become ubiquitous at the cultural level, it’s the founding team at PLAiR,” McNamee said in a statement.

“PLAiR’s solutions are the perfect example of the Hypernet in action, with the potential to change how search and discovery of content occurs in a world where the Internet is being widely accessed over cellular and WiFi networks. There is nothing on the market that rivals the consumer experience delivered by PLAiR.”

How secretive is PLAiR about its product? You can only access the website through invitation.

Some people may be frustrated with the lack of information and, frankly, clarity about what the new product is and what it will do, but this may turn out to be a brilliant marketing campaign by Hussain, and the team at PLAiR.

Honestly, I am already pretty excited to see what it has cooked up.

(Image source: blastmedia.com)