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Some beta services are more refined than others, and TokBox, which offers free video chat, may still have a ways to go.  But TokBox has the support of Sequoia Capital, and also has around $4 million from the venture capital firm.

Sequoia Capital is known for supporting Apple, Google, Yahoo, YouTube, and, well, the list goes on.  Other TokBox backers include “founders of YouTube, Netscape and Bebo,” “top executives at Slide, PayPal and Cisco,” and “the head of the graduate
Computer Science program at Stanford University,” according to the company.

Impressive, right?  In theory.  It’s in practice that the problems came in, and led Om Malik to write an article titled “How to Use Tokbox and Spam Your Friends”; the industry expert received at least 157 emails asking him to join the service.  TokBox claims to have addressed the issue, though, and companies have been known to recover from much worse mishaps.

In the end, TokBox’s success or failure is liable to depend on its timing.  $4 million should go a reasonably long way towards boosting its online chat capabilities, and there’s always the prospect of future funding rounds.  But Malik points out that other companies may be heading for the same goal, so speed could matter.