• Flixel Photos

  Participated · Seed · Oct 2015

  Flixel builds cinemagraph software and apps that combine still photos with minor, endlessly repeating video elements. The company has released three apps: Cinemagraph Pro for OS X, Cinemagraph Pro for iOS, and a timelapse app for OS X. It offers a $19.99 monthly subscription that provides access to all apps plus a hosting service. Flixel has a gallery of cinemagraphs on its website and an in-house production team, Flixel Studios, to work with brands. The company has partnered with the Emmys, Facebook, Instagram, America’s Next Top Model and A&E and has produced branded work such as a Lincoln ad featuring Matthew McConaughey. Going forward, Flixel plans to develop additional brand partnerships and continue iterating on its apps. Flixel Photos is a Toronto-based startup that makes Cinemagraph Pro, a photography application that blends still photographs with moving video to create "living photos." In February 2014 the company launched Cinemagraph Pro for Mac, having previously been available on iOS. Within weeks it was featured on the Mac App Store and reached No. 1 in the photography category in 78 countries. The company reported sales of over $250,000 in its first quarter. Flixel has pursued strategic partnerships — notably with Tyra Banks and America’s Next Top Model — to drive awareness. The new funding is intended to support the company’s continued product development and growth. Flixel Photos develops an application that lets users combine features of video and still photos to create Cinemagraphs on mobile and desktop. The company is led by CEO Philippe LeBlanc and offers both a consumer app and B2B services. Flixel has collaborated with brands including the Marilyn Monroe clothing line in a Macy’s digital marketing campaign and has been featured on America’s Next Top Model. The company raised $770K in funding to support its plans. It intends to use the funds to enhance its software application and increase marketing initiatives. The article states that Tyra Banks’ incorporation of Flixels on ANTM will generate significant exposure and awareness for the app and the company’s B2B service.

• Keek

  Participated · Equity · Jan 2013

  Keek is a mobile video social network with more than 73 million members worldwide; its app is available in over 190 countries, six global regions and 36 languages. The core product includes web and mobile apps that support short-form videos (up to 36 seconds) with 111 characters of accompanying text. Keek launched Keek Web 3.0 in North America on January 7, 2015 and worldwide on January 30, 2015, introducing a modular redesign to improve content discovery and user experience. The company plans further rollouts including a Re‑Keek feature, the Keek 3.0 redesign across iOS, Android and Windows, and upgraded Messenger apps to enable private messaging and real‑time group chat. Keek reported operating metrics showing an 8% month‑over‑month increase in keeks created in January 2015 and a nearly 4% increase in average mobile session time to 8.3 minutes. Infrastructure consolidation of its main global data centers in Toronto in November–December 2014 improved performance, security and scalability to support deeper penetration in North America and Western Europe; financially, the company has completed issuance of secured notes to support working capital. Keek is a Toronto-based social video-sharing startup centered on bite-sized 36-second smartphone clips and positions video as a form of communication rather than entertainment. The app deliberately omits beautification filters and editing tools, encouraging users to "point; shoot; upload; communicate." Keek reports rapid user growth, adding 6 million users in 30 days and claiming roughly 200,000 new sign-ups per day, with about 8 million monthly comments and likes and 30 million monthly follows and subscribes. Celebrities such as Kim Kardashian, Adam Lambert and 2 Chainz use the platform, though the company says adoption has been driven bottom-up by ordinary users. The new funding is earmarked to support a massive infrastructure expansion and product work to support international growth, including building location-detection and locally tailored trending-content systems. Keek previously raised $7 million in October in what the founder described as a friends-and-family-style round and is using the latest capital to keep pace with explosive growth. Keek is a Toronto-based operator of a free social video platform that connects people via 36-second video updates known as "keeks". Launched for iOS and Android in March 2012, the service lets users follow or subscribe to others, respond with text or video "keekbacks", manage content through a personal dashboard, and monitor performance with a free analytics tool. The platform also supports group discussions and real-time keeks related to current events. The company closed a $7m financing that brings total capital raised to more than $12m to date. The round was led by Cranson Capital Securities with participation from Pinetree Capital Ltd and Whitecap Venture Partners. Keek says it will use the funding to accelerate product development, scale infrastructure and expand globally; the company is led by CEO Isaac Raichyk. Keek operates a free social networking service that lets users post and share short video updates via webcam or mobile apps. Videos on the platform can run up to 36 seconds in length. The service is integrated with Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr to enable easy sharing of video messages. Keek aims to become the equivalent of Twitter for video-based status updates. The company faces a crowded and challenging microvideo space, with prior entrants like Seesmic and 12seconds having struggled and competitors such as Tout also recently launching. Keek has secured external financing to support its plans and growth.

No current team members are available.