Review of 6 Web 2.0 startups imeem!, Swaptree, Prosper, Limbo, Inkling, Browster

[mandy]

Article reviews 6 Web 2.0 startups: imeem!, Swaptree, Prosper, Limbo, Inkling, Browster

Swaptree:

Unlike the sites that let you trade just DVDs (Peerflix) or just music CDs (LaLa), Swaptree has set up a mechanism for trading CDs, books, DVDs and video games. In addition, this isn't just a person-to-person swap thing. The company's software can arrange multi-person trades to make sure that you're getting the product you want. At the moment, the company is in a private beta, which does the rest of us plebs little good. But we managed to catch a demo of the software in action, and this is how it works....

Prosper:

Prosper lets regular folks make loans to other regular folks.

The company conducts background checks on loan applicants to get their credit scores and assigns them a risk factor. People willing to make a loan then bid on the interest rate they're willing to charge given the risk. Prosper spreads the loan across multiple loaners to reduce the overall risk for those handing out their hard-earned cash...

full article: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/05/24/...page2.html

related topics:
Startup Swaptree becomes first site to allow 3-way and 4-way trading
http://community.tuliptools.com/index.ph...726.0.html
Prosper.com debuts offering a mixed brew of eBay, Friendster and the local bank
http://community.tuliptools.com/index.ph...629.0.html
Limbo: Lowest Bid Can Win This Auction
http://community.tuliptools.com/index.ph...183.0.html

[Kristijntje]

Update: Browster is no more.

San Francisco based Browster definitely appears to be dead, as GigaOm reported earlier this week...

Browster raised $5.8 million in a Series A round of funding just a year ago, and had closed at least one previous angel round with a number of individuals and funds...

full article: http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/01/07/bro.../#comments

more info: http://gigaom.com/2007/01/02/browster-down-and-out/