Friday, September 5, 2008

The Pitch

Raizlabs looks to raise your ability to manage photos

Raizlabs Corp.

Headquarters: Brookline

Employees: 3

Founded: 2003

Web: www.raizlabs.com

E-mail: graiz@raizlabs.com

Phone: 617-820-5206

The Pitch: The company is seeking capital to hire a vice president of sales and two developers to expand into the enterprise imaging space from consumer imaging.

PITCHING THE TECHNOLOGY

Raizlabs’ product is a software application called PicMe Photo Sharing. PicMe is intended to solve the problem of managing and sharing photos with friends, and publishing them to websites. The company says PicMe is intended to make working with large quantities of high-resolution images more intuitive. With PicMe, Raizlabs says it’s targeting enterprises and individuals with vast collections of photography. The application is intended to connect all of a user’s photos, whether they are on a camera, a PC, a network, or various websites. Raizlabs says PicMe makes it easier to work with photos regardless of their location or size. Raizlabs says PicMe differentiates itself from its competitors through its hybrid desktop/web approach and its patent-pending 3-D interface.

PITCHING THE PEOPLE

Who is on the management team? Gregory Raiz, former program manager at Microsoft Corp.

Have executives been involved in a cashout prior to this venture? No.

Who is on the board of advisers? The company has not formed a board.

PITCHING THE BUSINESS

How much investment is being sought? The company is seeking $500,000 to $1 million in capital.

What partnerships, collaborations or affiliations are already in place? The company says it has developed applications that integrate with websites such as Facebook, Yahoo Inc.’s Flickr and Google Inc.’s Picasa web albums. Raizlabs also says it has also established photo-printing partnerships with EZ Prints Inc., Digibug Express Inc. and Shutterfly Inc.

List any federal or state grants, contracts or awards received: None.

What’s the market size being pursued? Raizlabs estimates the photo-printing and imaging space to be a $50 billion to $100 billion market.

Who are the likely competitors, direct or indirect? The company lists Picasa, Eastman Kodak Co.’s EasyShare, Flickr and Apple Inc.’s iPhoto.

Is the company profitable? No.