Some people wait until the last minute to find a birthday gift for their loved ones. Others plan special occasions months in advance. But the most planned-out gift givers schedule their deliveries years in advance, even after they've passed away.
These "beyond the grave" gifts, like the husband who died in 2012 but still scheduled Valentine's Day flowers for his wife every year, have typically required users to jump through hoops and schedule deliveries with multiple companies to fulfill future orders. But Chicago startup CirceIt has created a digital platform to send gifts, flowers, personalized messages and more for years to come. And it just raised a new round of funding to grow its technology.
CirceIt announced it raised a $5.1 million Series A round led by Silicon Valley VC firm TeleSoft Partners, along with local investor Connor Crown. The startup has raised $7.2 million since it launched last year.
Founded by Art Shaikh, who previously spent seven years at Salesforce, CircleIt allows users to send cards, messages, flowers and gifts to loved ones at pre-scheduled dates in the future. It can be used while a person is still alive, of course, by scheduling card and deliveries each anniversary or birthday, for example. But CircleIt will fulfill deliveries long after you're gone, Shaikh said. The longest date a future card is scheduled for delivery on its platform is 27 years, Shaikh said.
Inspired by his father's final wishes for Shaikh to deliver messages and gifts to other family members after his passing, Shaikh calls the startup "the Hallmark for the 21st century," allowing users to share gifts and messages far into the future while also preserving their legacy. Its app also lets users share and store videos, photos and voice messages, build out your family tree, and schedule chat messages for a future date.
"We live in a digital world, but there’s nothing in place that can actually preserve you for future generations," he said.
Shaikh said the startup's app is used in 167 countries and has been downloaded more than three million times. He said it's been particularly popular in Latin America and South East Asia, Shaikh said. CircleIt currently has 21 employees.
