Ray Ozzie at the GeekWire Summit in Seattle earlier this year. (Annie Laurie Malarkey photo)

The last time we caught up with software pioneer Ray Ozzie, he was talking about the power of one’s connections in making startups a success.

Ray Ozzie

Well, Ozzie certainly is one of the most connected entrepreneurs we know, having succeeded Bill Gates as chief software architect at Microsoft and, before that, founding Lotus Notes and Groove Networks.

Now, Ozzie is working on a new startup company called Talko, which according to a SEC filing today just scored $4 million in funding. Investors were not disclosed in the filing, but Ozzie certainly would have the pick of the litter given his track record.

The company was previously known as Cocomo, and we pressed Ozzie at the GeekWire Summit earlier this year for more details. He didn’t budge, but he did offer a few clues on what he might be cooking up.

“My love, the thing that I’ve done most of my career is communications — what today we would call social productivity, what in the past we might have called groupware or computer-supported cooperative work, I like envisioning tools for new environments that let people do things in ways that are more fun, more productive and so on. I’m concentrating right now on mobility, because I think that market is incredibly explosive, and by mobility, it’s a very general statement meaning cloud-based back-ends, phones, pads and so on, on the front end, and I just think it’s great to explore new scenarios of how we can connect with one another with this new basis that we’ve got.”

TechCrunch suggests that Talko will compete in the arena of Mobile Backend as a Service, making it easier for developers to bring new apps to market. In addition to Ozzie, Talko, with operations in Seattle and Boston, is led by former Microsoft employees Ransom Richardson, Matt Pope, and Ari Goldberg.

The company’s homepage offers few clues, simply providing an email where people can apply for jobs. We’ve reached out to Ozzie for comment, and we’ll update this post as we learn more.

UPDATE: We heard back from Ozzie, and he said that the company is trying to stay focused on “the process of releasing and iterating.”  “There’s nothing really to say at this time. As I said, this isn’t about being coy or stealth; it’s about keeping the team focused,” he said.

Previously on GeekWireRay Ozzie on startups: Don’t underestimate the power of your connections

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