KC tech firm’s video app records $600K
July 14, 2015 | Bobby Burch
A local tech firm is planning to accelerate development of its mobile video application thanks to some new funding.
Laura Steward
Kansas City-based Digital Legacy landed $600,000 in May to fund the creation of its “VideoFizz” app, which allows a group of users to collaborate on a personalized video message for birthdays, anniversaries and other special events. Missouri Technology Corporation offered $200,000 in a matching grant in the round, which also included a Kansas City angel investor and other private investors.
Digital Legacy CEO Laura Steward said the app is a new approach for the company that’s been quickly gaining traction.
“It really fills a gap right now,” Steward said. “People want to do something personalized and creative but they don’t have a lot of time. We’ve reduced ourselves to just saying ‘happy birthday’ on Facebook, and this is so much more fun and just as easy to do.”
After downloading Video Fizz, a user may pay to create a collaborative video and send an invitation to others to record themselves. After users submit their respective videos, Video Fizz combines them and allows the purchaser to arrange clips and apply one of 16 themes.
The videos are used for such events as birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, graduations and others. Steward said that the Video Fizz app will be available on iOS and Android devices in September.
“This is a very simple way to give something personal through technology,” she said. “People get so creative with them. There’s no way to take your personality out of it.”
Digital Legacy previously focused its efforts on LiveOn, a social media platform that allows you to digitize media and create digital time capsules. While it still offers the services, the company will be focusing more on Video Fizz.
Previously an executive in the genetics industry, Steward currently is in the Pipeline Entrepreneurial Fellowship program, which taps the experience and network of powerful entrepreneurs in the region. She said the program has been invaluable to Digital Legacy, particularly as its focus has shifted.
“If I hadn’t had Pipeline I probably wouldn’t have figured this out,” Steward said. “This (change in focus) really came from a market validation exercise that we did in the fellowship program. … If I hadn’t had that program I could’ve spent two years trying to figure out what people wanted.”
To learn more about Video Fizz, click here.
2015 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Bodyrite duo cooks meal prep into personal training concept
Don’t just go with the flow at a traditional gym, Jamil Nelson said. Go with Flo. “Treadmills and ellipticals are pretty archaic to us,” said Nelson — or “Mr. Bodyrite” to his wife, Florese. “A jump rope is way better because it’s going to blow up your heart rate.” Modern workouts are all about functional,…
Denise Kruse: So your startup wants to be acquired – now what?
Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this commentary are the author’s alone. In the first column this three-part series, I discussed how a stellar strategy only gets your company halfway, but executing can take you to the finish line. Next, we took a deep dive into what startups should do after landing a first big…
Tech tracks workplace bias: It exists ‘whether you want to face it or not’
During a summer internship with a large Kansas City corporation, college student Louis Byrd was unexpectedly called into the HR office. Although the incident was about 10 years ago today, it has not yet left his mind, Byrd said. “I’ll never forget this,” he said. “HR told me that the people on my team had…
EyeVerify explains why it changed name to Zoloz
More than two months after revealing a curious name change, EyeVerify is offering details behind its evolution to become “Zoloz.” The fast-growing biometrics tech firm announced in August that it was rebranding as Zoloz, but initially offered little information about the reason for or meaning behind the name change. Headquartered in downtown Kansas City, a…