BotFactory launching Kickstarter for circuitboard printer [Startup Roundup]

Who’s getting funded? 

Two former Googlers have $1.7 million on an offered $1.8 million equity round for The Cord Project, according to an SEC filing. We hoped it was something to do with the unbelievable number of electronics cords that surround us, but it appears to be some kind of voice-based messaging app. The cofounders are Thomas Gayno and Jeff Baxter. The Cord Project’s LinkedIn page says the company is based in Williamsburg.

Call it stealth mode. We’re not actually sure this a tech venture. In fact, it most likely has something to do with sports, based on the Twitter profiles of two of the listed directors. French entrepreneurs Jean Damien Ladeuil, Charles Lagayette and Alain Lebleu have filed a $1.5 million equity round on an offered $2 million, according to an SEC filing. The filing locates their work in Williamsburg. There is nothing up on the company’s page, SoFive.com, but the domain is registered to Ladeuil.

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Who’s making moves?

Dumbo-based BotFactory now has a name for its desktop-printed circuitboard system. They are calling it “Squink.” The company is close to launching a Kickstarter campaign for the device, according to an email from the company sent Tuesday. BotFactory is asking people to join a Thunderclap campaign to kick off its Kickstarter campaign, which should start today. We previously covered the company’s efforts here. Printed circuitboards allow electronics to occupy a much thinner profile. It’s one of the key innovations that made thin smartphones possible.

Bed-Stuy-based local food delivery service Good Eggs has made big changes to its user interface. Formerly, you only saw the items that were available on the day you were shopping for. The company doesn’t maintain any inventory at all. It maintains very tight lines of communication with its producers so it knows just what they can deliver when. So you could only see what was really going to be available that day. Now Good Eggs has made it so that a much wider array of products are shown, but when you go to order, you may find that certain products are not available on the day you had hoped. More in this blog post. The company is also encouraging customers to return their packaging so it can be reused.

Dumbo-based video sales platform VHX now has a bunch of pre-built website themes. They are meant to attract filmmakers who have videos to sell, but no time or bandwidth to design a site from scratch. They are available for free to VHX users.

Short video messaging service Ocho now has voice-over functionality for its iOS app, according to an email from the company.

On-demand gourmet chef site Kitchensurfing now has 17 vetted kosher chefs in New York City.

When we first covered MyGrove Media‘s debt round back in November, the site’s front page said it would be about following what you love. Now the site shows an orientation to the over-55 set. Whether this is a pivot or simply a reveal of where it was headed all along, we have reached out to the company to find out. It seems to have grown, though. The site shows four people on the team, including “Acting General Manager” Michael Gold, who appears to have worked previously in films and games, based on his LinkedIn page.  One of the company’s cofounders is Spencer Morgan, a New York Observer journalist.

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Who’s getting buzz?

Take a photo tour of the new Livestream, courtesy of Business Insider.

Inc.com did the “HEY DUMBO’S GOT TECH” story that we’ve been seeing every few months now (for example, in the New York Times and in PR Week), but Inc’s version has a music focus. Several companies get nods but the most pixelated ink gets spilled for ticketing company CrowdSurge.