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
Travel on tap: How a KC couple built a self-serve port for international wine lovers north of the river
Grab your wine passport, Russ Johnson said, because this self-serve wine bar allows customers to taste the world one sip at a time. And the technology that makes the business possible? Johnson — a software developer-turned-entrepreneur — built it himself. “Our brand is really focused on going on a vacation and having this world experience —…
Don’t like cookies? Your new favorite weirdough baker hungrily accepts the challenge
Tierney Larson is on a mission to bake the perfect cookies for those like herself with a not-so-sweet tooth, the Outliers Baked Goods owner shared. Each month, the self-taught baker and New York native experiments, developing four new adventurous flavors to please the taste buds of the outliers or weirdoughs of the dessert community —…
Shocked by a discovery while pregnant, this entrepreneur vowed to make self-care products from ingredients safe enough to eat
‘I might as well make my own’ Jess Winns, founder of Ari Rose Body Care, had always been pretty conscious of what she and her three daughters put into and onto their bodies, she said. However, as she researched more about holistic wellness while pregnant with her second daughter, Winns read about how more than…
Mediterranean of the Midwest: How this restaurateur is crafting authentic tastes for diners in the heart of Kansas
Startland News’ Startup Road Trip series explores innovative and uncommon ideas finding success in rural America and Midwestern startup hubs outside the Kansas City metro. This series is possible thanks to Go Topeka, which seeks economic success for all companies and citizens across Shawnee County through implementation of an aggressive economic development strategy that capitalizes…