Trapit co-founder Hank Nothhaft, Jr. is no stranger to Facebook or Twitter — in fact that is where his company has found most of its customers to date. But Nothhaft says that on a web filled with “tweets and retweets,” your experience online can be “dependent on your social network. With Trapit, it’s about you,” says Nothhaft (pictured right). Trapit “traps” phrases or words that users input to describe their interests, and uses these to deliver personalized content selected from more than 100,000 websites. Users can check the Trapit website for their articles, or have them delivered via email.
Today Trapit confirmed that it has raised $6.2M in Series A funding in a round led by Hong Kong’s Horizon Ventures. Horizon manages tech investments for Li Ka-shing, who has previously invested in Facebook, Spotify, HzO and Siri (before it was purchased by Apple.) Trapit has been called “Siri’s sister” because it uses the same artificial intelligence technology. The company says it is been approached by handset manufacturers and “large scale media companies” who are interested in its technology, and that it will make its APIs available this quarter. Nothhaft says the level of personalization Trapit offers will be very attractive to advertisers.
Trapit launched less than two months ago and says it has attracted more than 2.5 million visitors to its site, primarily from Facebook and Twitter. Nothhaft says some of the new funding will be used to “play around with user acquisition programs,” as well as for new hiring and R & D.
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