haiku-deck-logo-largeHaiku Deck has reeled in $3 million in fresh funding, money that the Seattle startup will use to continue to build out its easy-to-use presentation tools. Trilogy Partnership led the round, with Madrona Venture Group, Founder’s Co-op, entrepreneur Sarah Leary and others also participating.

The TechStars Seattle grad, led by former Cranium executive Adam Tratt, originally started making celebrity-based social games under the moniker Giant Thinkwell. But it ditched those efforts after the games failed to gain traction, settling instead on a new type of presentation software for the iPad. (See Tratt’s earlier guest post on GeekWire: “Our startup’s pivot: Three important lessons we learned”)

The transition has worked well. Haiku Deck now boasts more than 500,000 downloads, with it consistently ranking in Apple’s app store as one of the top productivity apps.

adamtratt
Adam Tratt speaking at GeekWire’s Startup Day

“When we launched Haiku Deck last Fall, it was an experiment to see if people were willing to use their tablets for creating presentations,” said Tratt. “After a few weeks, it became clear that we had hit a nerve —not only by providing a great mobile-first productivity app, but also by addressing the pain people face when they try to create an awesome-looking presentation. With a few months of validation under our belt, we’re transitioning into growth mode.”

The company plans to use funds to expand the team at its Fremont offices. It also plans to expand the service to other platforms and developing a premium offering.

Haiku Deck isn’t the only Seattle area startup raising money to transform the presentation category. 9Slides, led by former Microsoftie Ruchit Garg, recently rolled out a service to make graphical presentations sync with accompanying videos.

Here’s a quick overview of Haiku Deck:

Previously on GeekWireHaiku Deck 2.0: Charts, graphs and lists to help make presentations easier

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