E-mail
del.icio.us
Technorati
Digg
Junk mail sucks, but it's still necessary to riffle through the piles of it that arrive in the mail box to make sure that the electricity bill isn't tucked between a 0% credit card offer and some coupon mailer. Earth Class Mail Corp. aims to lessen the pain by offering a service where mail is viewed online, and the user can choose to have Earth Class Mail discard, open and scan, or forward the mail to a home address.
The three-year-old Seattle-based startup just announced that it has received $13.3 million in Series A financing from an interesting combination of backers: The Keiretsu Forum, an organization of angel investors, and venture capital firm Ignition Partners. Keiretsu and other angel investors actually accounted for more than half of the round, which follows an initial close of $7.4 million in September, the company said.
"We understood the immense value that comes from Keiretsu's worldwide network because it dominated our convertible-note bridge round," said Earth Class Mail's CEO Ron Wiener in a statement. "At the same time, we understood the immense strategic leverage and financial stability that we would gain by having the largest venture fund in the Pacific Northwest, Ignition Partners, invest in the round. Our board of directors was extremely pleased to be able to structure a deal that brought together both investor groups on the same term sheet -- it truly is the best of both worlds."
Ignition's Jonathan Roberts and Robert Headley and Keiretsu's Kenn Dahl, president of software developer Prime Recognition Corp., will join the startup's board as part of the deal. - Olaf de Senerpont Domis
See Jan. 7 release from Earth Class Mail
For more see Alarm:Clock and John Cook's Venture Blog
- Video: Chris Coyne on 'red shoes for the rest of us' and investing beyond the bottom line
- CA provides exit for Benchmark
- 2008 breaks 31-year record for VC-backed IPOs
- Q&A: "We have always been way too arrogant," says RRE's Jim Robinson on VCs
- Video Flashback 2008: Union Square's Fred Wilson on low burn rates
Sounds like there are some kinks yet to be worked out. Customer service is key for a startup offering a service like Earth Class Mail, and something new companies don't always master early on. What kind of business are you running?
Milkshakes,
I handle customer support for Earth Class Mail™ and would very much like to understand and fix this problem. Please contact me at your earliest convenience and I will do everything I can to help you get the most out of your service. Feel free to get in touch with me personally via phone or email at the following information:
beth.bennett@earthclassmail.com
971-250-5012
Sincerely,
Beth Bennett
Customer Support Manager
Earth Class Mail
We’ve been using this service for about nine months. I can tell you that it doesn’t work. It causes more problems then it solves. It’s slow, for starters, it’s too expensive (if you get 100 letters a month you need to get the $60/month plan, that’s about 3 items a day, which is nothing), and that’s just for starters.
Also, it confuses people. They don’t see it as a PO box so it always confuses anyone you talk to (like the bank) which is a big problem.
Worse of all, they’re customer service SUCKS! They really don’t know what they’re doing. I hate it and am in the process of canceling my services (both business and personal) with them. Waste of time and money.