Under The Covers At Katango: Kleiner Perkins? First sFund Investment

Last October, Kleiner Perkins launched the sFund, a $250 million initiative designed to make strategic investments in entrepreneurs building social services and apps. The partners contributing to the fund include Facebook, Amazon, Zynga, Comcast, and more. The first startup to receive investment from the sFund was Cafebots, which received $5 million in series A from Kleiner shortly thereafter. At the time of the announcement, Cafebots was in stealth mode and was tight-lipped about just what kind of social service it was building. My colleague MG Siegler did, however, learn that the startup was hoping to expose users to a new, yet referential acronym: "FRM", or "friend relationship management". Of course, not everyone is familiar with CRM (customer relationship management) and some might miss this tongue-in-cheek reference. Today, we've had the chance to learn a little more about the Kleiner-backed startup ahead of its impending launch in June, and how it's moving past "FRM" to embrace a more all-compassing descriptor of its business: "personal crowd control". Also part of the update? The company will no longer be known as Cafebots. From here on out, it's Katango.

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