Stealthy Decide.com Lands $6M

Seattle stealth startup Decide.com, which says it’s working on a consumer electronics shopping service, announced a $6 million Series B financing round today. The latest investment was led by Maveron—Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz’s outfit—along with Madrona Venture Group and angel investors. Decide, led by CEO Mike Fridgen, is also adding some notable names: Dan Levitan of Maveron and former Farecast Chief Executive Hugh Crean are on the board, while founding Google board member Ram Shriram is lined up as an adviser and investor. Former Expedia CEO Erik Blachford also is an investor. Decide previously raised about $2.5 million in venture financing. University of Washington professor and Internet search expert Oren Etzioni is a co-founder. Fridgen said in a news release that Decide “puts the power of shopping for electronics back in consumers’ hands,” whatever that means. It sounds like a possible competitor to Sparkbuy, the Seattle startup led by Ontela (now Photobucket) founder Dan Shapiro.

Author: Curt Woodward

Curt covered technology and innovation in the Boston area for Xconomy. He previously worked in Xconomy’s Seattle bureau and continued some coverage of Seattle-area tech companies, including Amazon and Microsoft. Curt joined Xconomy in February 2011 after nearly nine years with The Associated Press, the world's largest news organization. He worked in three states and covered a wide variety of beats for the AP, including business, law, politics, government, and general mayhem. A native Washingtonian, Curt earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA. As a past president of the state's Capitol Correspondents Association, he led efforts to expand statehouse press credentialing to online news outlets for the first time.