You know how it goes: as soon as you start paying attention to something you start to see it everywhere. For the past several months I’ve been working with two different companies (both still under wraps) in the “messaging” space. I was already aware of a few related efforts, including Xobni and Xoopit (plus Seattle-based YC alums Chatterous), but in the last few days I’ve stumbled across several more, including ZenBe (who just announced) and another Seattle-based project called Cirqe.
Most of these companies are chasing after different opportunities, but there are obvious areas of overlap, and even some direct competition among them. I’m still trying to figure out how the more recent entrants change the “market map in my head” but overall my impression is that there’s a ton of exciting innovation happening in messaging right now and it’s fun to have a ringside seat on the action.
Seen any new messaging startups I should be paying attention to? Let me know.