Krablr started off as a promising real-time crab pricing engine for amateur fishermen. After a long beta period and a $5 million round with Sequoia leading the round and Scranton Angels also investing, the startup is pivoting to focus on millennials going forward.
“We really thought we could disrupt the way crab pricing is done,” Stanford graduate and Krablr co-founder Paul Paulson Black III told TechCrunch. “But, at the end of the day, we took a step back and wondered — do we have a good product/market fit?”
The answer was a resounding no. Krablr now wants to be the next generation of crab-pricing-meet-messaging app for millennials — and Krablr’s next generation product is VR ready.
“Krablr knows the crab industry inside out,” Krablr advisor John Blarggs said. “I truly believe these kids found the perfect sweet spot.”
Here’s how Krablr works. After installing the app, Krablr gives you access to the best marketplace of millennial crab lovers. The startup automagically finds Krablr users around you. If there’s a match, you can discuss crab pricing at length. Krablr helps you set a fair price by forcing you to exclusively use the emoji keyboard. You can also take selfies.
Once you agree, a Krablr driver will come and pick up some fresh crabs and deliver them to the buyer — think Uber for del.icio.us crabs. And if you’re a very excited, impatient, insufferable buyer, the Krablr driver is wearing three GoPros on the official “Make Crabbing Great Again” cap so that you can you see your crabs in virtual reality.
What’s next for the company? “Leading up to our Series B, we’re already thinking about implementing a SaaS model with premium in-app features,” Black said. “For instance, you could subscribe for $29 per user per month and install the premium Krablr Slackbot for your entire company — also stickers.”
Does Krablr have a chance? Or are they going for an acqui-hire? According to App Annie, comScore, Mattermark and Matty Ponzirano’s sneaker collection, Krablr is a top-tier crab startup. When asked why they were focusing on millennials, they texted me “ ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ”
Krablr will stay in private beta a bit more but is launching soon once they can eradicate some crab bugs that are causing food poisoning. Sign up for the beta at yolo.krablr.club.
