AnyVivo, a startup that launched this spring out of Y Combinator’s Winter 2012 program, has a pretty big mission: It wants to be the e-commerce hub for all living things. You might think that Amazon sells everything, and you’re almost right — but AnyVivo wants to pick up exactly where it leaves off, at pets and plants. Selling and shipping such things is actually pretty complicated from a warehousing and logistical perspective, but AnyVivo says it wants to take on the challenge.
The company has started with a focus on one thing: Jellyfish. With its flagship site Jellyfish Art, the company sells custom kits with jellyfish tanks, instructions, food, and the animals themselves. It sounds esoteric, but it’s actually been quite lucrative. AnyVivo is currently profitable, employing a staff of six out of a 6,000 square foot warehouse in downtown San Francisco.
Things are going so swimmingly (ha) that for now, the company is opting to not take on any outside venture capital money beyond the small seed round that Y Combinator invests in all its portfolio companies. In this current funding environment, which is proving especially strong for Y Combinator Winter 2012 startups, that in itself is newsworthy.
But cooler still is AnyVivo’s warehouse, where it breeds and houses jellyfish until they ship out to customers. So TechCrunch TV headed on over to AnyVivo’s headquarters to get an inside look at the company and interview its co-founders, Alex Andon and Cameron Urban. Watch the video embedded above to hear about the initial vision for AnyVivo, why they started with jellyfish, what plants and animals are next on the list, and more. Of course I think you should watch the whole thing, but if you just want to get your zen on and see the jellies floating around, you can start the video at around the 4:30 mark.
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