CrowdOptic, a startup with technology for identifying where people are pointing their smartphone cameras, has raised another $1 million in funding.
When I've spoken to the team in the past, they've emphasized the ways this could be used to create new types of social interactions — if people are attending a live event and pointing their cameras at the same thing, they can start chatting and sharing content. However, the company's website highlights a number of use cases, including "focus-aware" advertising, analytics, news reporting, social TV (live attendees can provide content to people watching at home), and security.
CEO and co-founder Jon Fisher said that customers include Australia- and New Zealand-based ticketing company Ticketek (CrowdOptic built the company's Friend Spotter app for finding your Facebook friends in a stadium, which you can see in the screenshot above) and Fora.tv (which used CrowdOptic to share authenticated, eyewitness content from the presidential debates).
The new funding comes from CrowdOptic's existing investors, including Silicon Valley Bank, tech legend Ray Lane, and Fisher himself. Fisher also said that CrowdOptic recently celebrated its second quarter of profitability. The company has now raised a total of $3.5 million.
By the way, Fisher was previously CEO of Bharosa, NetClerk, and AutoReach, but he isn't the only team member with an impressive résumé — COO Jim Kovach has worked at other startups, he has a medical degree and a law degree, and he was a linebacker for the New Orleans Saints and San Francisco 49ers.
CrowdOptic is a revolutionary new mobile phone app that lets fans point their phone at the action during a live event and see up to the moment highlights, messages to the fanbase, real-time player stats and much more.
Jon Fisher is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, author, and economic analyst. Fisher co-founded and was Chief Executive Officer of Bharosa, an Oracle Corporation company, which produced the Oracle Adaptive Access Manager. Fisher is known for making accurate predictions about the U.S. economy, particularly unemployment rates. Fisher is an adjunct professor at the University of San Francisco and his book is required reading for the MBA program at several schools, including the Haas School of Business at...
Ray Lane is a Partner Emeritus at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Since joining the firm in 2000, he has focused on helping entrepreneurs with technological and market insight, organizational development, team building, selling and managing growth. Ray sponsored a number of investments for KPCB in enterprise and consumer technology, as well as clean and alternative energy. The companies involved in these investments include Fisker Automotive (plug-in hybrid car), GreatPoint Energy (coal-to-gas conversion), Aquion (energy storage), Kenandy (cloud manufacturing...
Silicon Valley Bank works with technology, life science, cleantech, venture capital, private equity and premium wine businesses. SVB provides industry knowledge and connections, financing, treasury management, corporate investment and international banking services to its clients worldwide through 27 U.S. offices and seven international operations. Banking the world's most innovative companies and exclusive wineries, Silicon Valley Bank's diverse financial services, knowledge, global network, and world class service increase its clients' probability of success. Forbes Magazine ranks SVB among America's...
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