Whrrl was a social

location-based service Location-based service (LBS) is a general term denoting software service (economics), services which use geographic data and information to provide services or information to users. LBS can be used in a variety of contexts, such as health, indoor ...

developed by the

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

-based company Pelago, Inc. Whrrl had a

recommendation engine A recommender system (RecSys), or a recommendation system (sometimes replacing ''system'' with terms such as ''platform'', ''engine'', or ''algorithm'') and sometimes only called "the algorithm" or "algorithm", is a subclass of information fil ...

that uses algorithms and users' votes to surface relevant recommendations. On June 30, 2010, Whrrl launched its Society Rewards Program, designed to close the gap between a brand's online social media and real-world presence with its first partner, Murphy USA Oil.

Groupon Groupon, Inc. is an American global e-commerce marketplace connecting subscribers with local merchants by offering activities, travel, goods and services in 13 countries. Based in Chicago, Groupon was launched there in November 2008, launching ...

announced that it had purchased Whrrl on April 18, 2011. As Whrrl dissipates, it is being speculated that Groupon will leverage location based social networking or "check-ins" on their popular group coupon site.

Site overview

The service was launched in October 2007 as a

geosocial networking Geosocial networking is a type of social networking in which geographic services and capabilities such as geocoding and geotagging are used to enable additional social dynamics.

and discovery site that allows both web and mobile users to find, explore, share, meet up at, and rate points-of-interest in their cities. Pelago's first product, Whrrl, was launched on July 10, 2008. Whrrl v1.0 was a location-based social networking and discovery application for the iPhone, Blackberry and numerous other mobile phones. Pelago launched Whrrl 2.0, an 'on-the-go' storytelling application for the iPhone and web on March 16 at

South by Southwest South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

. Whrrl 3.0 was launched at SXSW on March 11, 2010 with a promise: "We'll save you from Farmville." Press release her

.

Pelago, Inc.

The company was founded by Amazon (company), Amazon.com veterans Jeff Holden and Darren Vengroff. In November 2006, Pelago, Inc completed Series A financing backed by

Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers Kleiner Perkins, formerly Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), is an American venture capital firm which specializes in investing in incubation, early stage and growth companies. Since its founding in 1972, the firm has backed entrepreneurs ...

; Trilogy Equity Partners; and

Bezos Expeditions Bezos Expeditions is an American investment firm based in Mercer Island, Washington. It serves as a family office for Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos by managing his personal investments. The firm invests both in early and late stage ventures of ...

. It is also the first product to be financially backed by the

iFund The iFund is a US$200 million capital fund. Developers may enter into equity deals for the creation of applications, services, and components for Apple Inc.'s iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad platform. It is being offered and managed by venture capita ...

. In May 2008, Pelago announced a second round of funding totaling US$15 million led by

Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom AG (, ; often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a partially state-owned German telecommunications company headquartered in Bonn and the largest telecommunications provider in Europe by revenue. It was formed in 199 ...

, followed by India-based Reliance Technology Ventures and

DAG Ventures DAG Ventures is an American venture capital firm based in Palo Alto, California. DAG Ventures works with startups in providing early stage and growth stage funding. Since its founding in 2004, by Tom Goodrich and John Cadeddu, the firm has backe ...

.Pelago Secures $15 Million In Funding For Mobile Social Network On A Map
''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

''. Accessed June 4, 2008. In April 2011, Pelago was acquired by Groupon and the Whrrl service was discontinued.

References

External links

Official website
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090604100216/http://whrrl.com// , date=June 4, 2009 American review websites Android (operating system) software BlackBerry software Discontinued iOS software American social networking websites Internet properties established in 2007 Geosocial networking Mobile social software