The new release and the funding should help the young, 12-person startup better withstand direct competition from Apple. Apple recently entered the mobile greeting card space with the release of Cards.
Sincerely Ink will launch in a few weeks as a separate holiday-themed mobile offering. Application users on iOS and Android will able to select from more than 40 different photo card templates and illustrated designs to create, customize and send holiday postcards for $1.69 a piece.
Sincerely Ink will launch with winter 2011 postcard themes, but will be refreshed with new designs for each holiday thereafter.
The latest addition to Sincerely's mobile application lineup looks to be even closer in purpose and style to Cards than Postagram or PopBooth, but CEO and cofounder Matt Brezina continues to believe that his startup offers users the best photo-gifting experience on mobile, bar none. Plus, as he points out, Cards isn't available on iPad or Android.
Sincerely's investors, a collection of notable firms and Angels, seem especially confident in the promise of the mobile gifting startup -- though the Series A round closed in the spring, prior to the release of Apple's Cards.
Are investors feeling buyer's remorse? Maybe not. "We've had record revenue days since the Cards app launched," Brezina shares. "And in a head-to-head comparison, the users we've talked to prefer Sincerely's products."
But it's a David versus Goliath story with an ending that only you, the mobile greeting card buyer, can write.
So, what's next for Sincerely? "The same thing we do every night, Pinky," Brezina says channeling Brain from Pinky and the Brain. "Try and take over the world."
The Series A round was led by Spark Capital, with participation from First Round Capital, Charles River Ventures, SV Angel, Chamath Palihapitiya, Drew Houston, Paul Buchheit, Adam Smith, Ariel Poler, Shan Sinha and Paul Freedman. Sincerely will use the $3 million in funding to scale its team and user base, Brezina says.