This $1M-Backed Startup Wants to Build a Better Skype and Solve Your Mobile Message Problems

Skype is so 2005.

It may be used by millions of consumers every single day, but it is old news in the world of instant messaging.

, a free messaging tool that can be used without the need for special software, hopes to change that. Don't let the silly tagline (which claims that Moped is "Messaging for people who work together") fool you. That generic-sounding pitch hides the fact that Moped is different from your everyday IM app. For starters, no one needs an app to use Moped. And to be clear, Moped is not just "for people who work together" -- anyone can use it to quickly send messages to their friends, relatives or colleagues. Moped users aren't locked into Moped; they can also send message to their friends' e-mail accounts. Their friends are then able to reply direct from the e-mail. They don't actually have to be a Moped user or launch Moped.com to answer the message. Schuyler Deerman, Moped's CEO, told Benzinga that he created Moped to help solve some of the problems inherent in Skype and other application-based messaging tools. His primary grievance has to do with the way Skype receives messages when users are signed out. He was also frustrated with the fact that if he does not sign out of Skype on every device he uses, his friends might think that he is online and available. With Moped, users can't escape those messages. They'll come to their e-mail addresses and appear on Moped.com when the user is logged in. Thus, a user is never really "signed in" or "signed out" of Moped. He or she is always potentially connected to the service. Granted, users could simply sign out of their e-mail accounts to avoid receiving Moped. But if they want the ability to sign out, they might as well stick with Skype. Moped is backed with $1 million in financing from Earlybird Venture Capital, Betaworks, SV Angel and Lerer Ventures. For the time being, however, Deerman has yet to come up with a way to profit. "We've talked to other companies, big messaging companies, and they don't make money on their products either," Deerman told Benzinga. "We're definitely interested in building a business model. I think we're still at the beginning of the cycle of trying to [grow] the product market and then figuring out how to monetize. "That being said, there's a lot of cool things you can do with messaging, and throwing advertisements based on what words you are using inside your message is not one of those things."