matchmine
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
matchmine was a Needham, Massachusetts media-discovery startup founded in 2007 by Michael Troiano and backed by the Kraft Group with a $10 million Series A in September 2007. Its patent-pending Media Discovery Platform analyzed users' media likes and dislikes into a visual 'MatchKey' of personal tastes, recommending movies, music and other content across partner sites including Peerflix, FilmCrave and Fuzz.com. The company closed in October 2008 when the Kraft Group pulled its funding as the credit crisis deepened.
02 / matchmine FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
matchmine was a casualty of the 2008 financial crisis. Its backer, the Kraft Group, pulled funding 'as the depth of the credit crisis came into full focus,' forcing all 44 employees to be let go in October 2008. The company had been pivoting from consumer preference tools toward applying its preference science to ad targeting and was making progress finding platform partners - but its single source of capital dried up overnight.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Founded
matchmine was founded in Needham, Massachusetts by Michael Troiano as a media-discovery company built on MatchKey preference technology.
- Series A
The company raised a $10 million Series A from the Kraft Group in September 2007.
- Shutdown
In October 2008 the Kraft Group pulled matchmine's funding as the credit crisis deepened; all 44 employees were let go and the company closed.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
Founded 2007 in Needham, Massachusetts by Michael Troiano; media-discovery recommendations via MatchKey technology.
- 02
September 2007: $10 million Series A from the Kraft Group.
- 03
Partnered with Peerflix, FilmCrave and Fuzz.com at launch.
- 04
October 2008: Kraft pulled funding amid the credit crisis; all 44 employees let go; company closed.
- 05
No reliable loss figure disclosed; the $10M investment is not a loss.