Last week, Cord Project Inc. — a startup founded by former Google Creative Lab chiefs Jeff Baxter and Thomas Gayno — shared some good news with Mobile Marketing Watch.
According to the details shared, the group closed $1.8 million in seed round funding.
Metamorphic Ventures and Lerer Hippeau Ventures led the capital round with participation from Google Ventures and Greycroft.
The syndicate also includes a select group of tech entrepreneurs and media personalities such as Dave Morin via Slow Ventures, Gary Vaynerchuk via Vayner/RSE, Carmelo Anthony and Stuart Goldfarb via Melo7 Tech Partners, and French businessman Xavier Niel.
So what exactly is Cord Project? In their words, Cord Project “aims to bring back the power of voice by exploring how we talk on today’s always-on devices.”
As our devices shift from the big glossy screens of smartphones to the tiny – or non-existent – screens of watches and other wearables, voice will play a larger role in how we communicate with each other.
“We’ve never had more technology to communicate, but ironically we talk to each other less and less” said Gayno, Cord Project’s CEO. Communication today is largely done through the functional, but flat, text message. The nuance, emotion, and speed of voice is lost to the ease of asynchronous text messaging. “It’s incredible how much more information you get from hearing the voice of someone you love, instead of reading a text” said Gayno.
