Punchbowl.com

For other uses, see Punch bowl (disambiguation).
Punchbowl.com
Private
Industry Event Planning, Software
Founded 2006
Founder Matt Douglas (CEO)
Sean Conta (CXO)
Headquarters Framingham, MA, USA
Website punchbowl.com

Punchbowl.com is a free web-based party planning service and digital greeting cards site based in Framingham, Massachusetts. The company was founded in 2006, received venture funding from a variety of sources, and the website was then launched in 2007.[1] The service allows users to plan and organize parties and events, with features such as customizable online invitations and local vendor search. The site has received media attention from multiple outlets including the Wall Street Journal,[2] New York Times,[3] and TechCrunch.[4] In 2007 it was listed on PC World’s "25 Web Sites to Watch", and in 2008, it received the Massachusetts Innovation & Technology Exchange (MITX) Award for Usability, and was an Honoree for a 2008 Webby Award. In 2010, Entrepreneur Magazine listed it as one of the "100 Most Brilliant Companies", and the site was also lauded in The Oprah Magazine and Women's Health.

Company history

Punchbowl was founded by software and user interface experts Matt Douglas and Sean Conta, who previously worked together at Bose Corporation. Incorporated on April 11, 2006, the company officially launched on January 15, 2007 under the name MyPunchbowl.com as a free site for party planning.[5]

The company was funded by Contour Venture Partners, Intel Capital, and eCoast Angels,[6] receiving its seed round of funding on October 2, 2007 from lead investor Intel Capital.[7] On September 16, 2008, Punchbowl announced its Series A round of funding in the amount of $2.1M[8] led by Contour Venture Partners.[9]

Punchbowl has acquired two companies. "I’m In!" on November 17, 2009,[10] and Socializr on November 12, 2010,[11] a Silicon Valley event management platform created by Friendster founder Jonathan Abrams.

In September 2010, the company announced that it had surpassed one million registered users and had acquired the Punchbowl.com domain.[12] In September 2011, the company introduced a new product called Digital Greeting Cards which is a free eCards service.[13]

The company licenses its technology to leading retail and media sites, including Oriental Trading Company,[14] 1-800-FLOWERS, Lifetime, and Cozi. Punchbowl also has partnerships with consumer Internet sites such as Kayak.com.[15]

Awards

References

  1. Gonzalez, Nick (January 14, 2007). "MyPunchbowl Joins the eVite Gunners". TechCrunch.
  2. Boehret, Katherine (June 13, 2007). "Invite Sites Help Start a Party". Wall Street Journal.
  3. Turbow, Jason (December 16, 2009). "Inviting Web Sites for Party Planners". The New York Times.
  4. Rao, Leena (October 4, 2010). "Punchbowl Debuts Digital Invitation Studio (Invites)". TechCrunch.
  5. Marshall, Matt (January 15, 2007). "Mypunchbowl joins growing list of Evite rivals". VentureBeat.
  6. Siegler, MG (September 16, 2008). "MyPunchbowl serves up a $2.1 million second round". VentureBeat.
  7. Morrison, Chris (October 2, 2007). "MyPunchbowl lands seed funding for online invitations". VentureBeat.
  8. "http://www.crunchbase.com/company/mypunchbowl". CrunchBase. Retrieved 2010-12-21.
  9. McCarthy, Caroline (September 16, 2008). "$2.1 million for invite start-up MyPunchbowl". CNET.
  10. Kirsner, Scott (November 16, 2009). "Why is It So Hard to Kill a Web 1.0 Dinosaur?". Boston.com.
  11. Tartakoff, Joseph (November 12, 2010). "Punchbowl Gets Socializr to Join Its Party". PaidContent.
  12. Rao, Leena (September 14, 2010). "Online Party Planning Site MyPunchbowl Rebrands As Punchbowl; Passes 1M Users". TechCrunch.
  13. Rao, Leena (September 12, 2011). "Party Planning Platform Punchbowl Expands Beyond Invitations To Digital Greeting Cards". TechCrunch.
  14. Rao, Leena (April 27, 2010). "MyPunchbowl Signs Multi-Million Dollar Licensing Deal with Oriental Trading Company". TechCrunch.
  15. Glazowski, Paul (April 15, 2008). "MyPunchbowl, Kayak Team to Give Party Planners Full-Service Treatment". Mashable.
  16. "http://www.mitxawards.org/innovation/Agencies/p-r/Punchbowl-Software.aspx". Massachusetts Innovation and Technology Exchange. 2011. Retrieved 2012-08-07.
  17. Ohngren, Kara and Jennifer Wang (June 2010). "100 Most Brilliant Companies". Entrepreneur Magazine.
  18. "100 Things That Are Getting Better". O, The Oprah Magazine. January 2010.
  19. "100 Most Useful Sites on the Web". Women's Health. June 2008.
  20. "http://www.mitxawards.org/technology/Winners-Circle.aspx". Massachusetts Innovation and Technology Exchange. June 4, 2008. Retrieved 2011-01-17.
  21. "http://www.webbyawards.com/webbys/current.php?season=12". The Webby Awards. May 28, 2008. Retrieved 2011-01-17.
  22. Gralla, Preston (June 18, 2007). "25 Web Sites to Watch". PCWorld.

External links