The Twilio team

Twilio, which helps companies create nifty Web-based applications around phone calls, has scored a $3.6 million round of capital led by Union Square Ventures. The Founders Fund and angel investors such as Mitch Kapor, David Cohen and Chris Sacca also participated in the deal.

Twilio moved its headquarters from Seattle to San Francisco earlier this year after founder Jeff Lawson's wife received a fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco. But the company -- which Lawson founded in 2007 -- still has operations and ties to Seattle. For example, marketing director Danielle Morrill is an active member of the Seattle startup community. Lawson previously worked at Amazon.com.

A number of Seattle area companies have been tapping into Twilio's technology to build unique phone-based applications. Most recently we've written about Order Pizza, the iPhone app that allows pizza lovers to order pies from their favorite pizza shops without the hassle of punching in the phone number. Here's a video of Morrill showing off how that app works.

Seattle developer Matt Steckler also has worked with the technology to create some quirky applications, including the ability to remotely buzz visitors into apartments and condos.

Lawson tells VentureBeat that 1,000 applications have been built using Twilio,

As a result of the investment, Albert Wenger of Union Square Ventures will join the Twilio board. He previously served as president of del.icio.us.

John Cook is co-founder of TechFlash. Follow on Twitter @johnhcook.