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
Critics challenge DEI as ‘immoral’; this VC has a message for those seeking equity for Black, Brown founders: We are not powerless
Pushing for equity in long-siloed industries might seem obvious to some, said Marcus Whitney, but advocates for change must remember that not everyone is on board — and some are actively working against level the playing field. “I hate to say it, but we have enemies,” Whitney told a crowd gathered Thursday at Vine Street…
Not excited about these 3 Downtown KC projects? ‘You need to have your pulse checked’
It’s never been a better time for businesses in Downtown Kansas City, shared Mike Klamm. “A lot of us are Kansas City natives, and if you’re not excited about where we are right now, I do think you need to have your pulse checked,” said Klamm, chair of the Downtown Council board and senior vice…
Donutology’s trolley adds new flavor to River Market with streetcar shop stop’s opening
Kansas City’s new treat trolley has arrived with Friday’s opening of the new Donutology donut shop within a 70-year-old repurposed streetcar in River Market. Just a few months after news broke that Donutology would take over the space at 426 Delaware St. — formerly a Made in KC micro location — the business opened its…
Acquiring company: Homebase’s KC team will make valuable workforce, leadership additions
Homebase’s acquisition by an industry leader in the smart home space this week gives its Kansas City team a greater voice in redefining the future of living, said Blake Miller, sharing details of what the exit means for the talent at his Crossroads headquarters. “We’ve created an entirely new category in an industry (real estate)…