Last week,Limbo and Brightkite announced that the two companies have merged to form a location-based social discovery service. The combined entity is claimed to have “more than two million unique monthly users,award-winning products,strong advertising revenues and a highly experienced executive team.” The new entity,which will use the Brightkite brand,will focus on its combined service “that helps friends increase face time and share real world experiences”.
Limbo started in 2005 as a text-message-based game and has expanded into a social networking community,which added a location feature in July 2008. Brightkite,which started in 2007,was a LBS company from the beginning.
In January 2009,Limbo raised $9 million in a new financing round led by Nexit with participation by Limbo’s previous investors:Azure Capital Partners,Draper Fisher Jurvetson and New Enterprises Associates.
Jonathon Linner,former CEO of Limbo is taking the helm at the new Brightkite while Brightkite founders are taking over the product development.