Internet services such as Google’s Street View changed the way in which people can experience places and attractions that are physically far away from them. It turns out that people's curiosity doesn’t end with merely reading text about places, apartments, or businesses, and even pictures no longer satisfy them.
Those insights are the basis of Israeli start-up Quiksee. The firm was founded in 2007 by CEO Gadi Royz, VP R&D Rony Amira, CTO Assaf Harel, and Pavel Yosifovich. Royz explains that the goal of the company is to allow the average web user to create location based interactive media. “The idea is based on the need and willingness of people to share information with other people, including visual information.”
The software that the firm has developed allows any user to turn a simple video into an interactive video clip. The user can film his location with a digital camera or mobile device, upload the file to Google Maps, and help with the interactive mapping of the world. The clip becomes interactive people can surf it and get a true touring experience, without actually being in the place.
According to Royz, “It's possible to add multimedia files to the video, and the videos can be created by amateur photographers for fun reasons, professional photographers for economic reasons, or by people who want to help with the goal of mapping the world. The places photographed are also not limited they can be underwater, in the air, and anywhere the photographer is." The company’s software can connect various clips that the photographer filmed in the same place, and create a virtual tour from them.
Royz adds that the software adds an element missing in StreetView - "to go into a hotel, personal business, or property that people want to buy, without depending on any device or GPS. It’s a complementary service to the world of mapping, which provides an interactive experience and user content."
The service currently works on Windows, but will soon be able to work on Apple computers.
Royz is not prepared to reveal the how much money the company has raised, but it is estimated that it has raised several million dollars, from Van Leer Group Foundation unit Docor International BV and from Ofer Hi Tech Ltd..
An open beta version of the service was launched in recent weeks, and has attracted hundreds of users. According to Royz, the company is in talks with Israeli and overseas content providers who provide guidebooks and indexes, with the goal of offering visual details to put alongside the dry facts.
Globes: What is the business model?
>Royz: We are making progress with expanding the pool of users, and are preparing to offer certain fee-based services, on a Freemium model part of the service will be given for free, and for part, users will pay.
In the future, the company plans to produce revenue through sharing revenue with potential partners, but Royz declines to provide specific details.
Royz says that while there are companies today that offer interactive video services, "our uniqueness is being based on the users themselves, and not on professional photographers. We are a Web 2.0 company in every way." The vision, he says, is to reach a point where "the user wonders whether to upload a clip to YouTube, Flickr, or Quiksee."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 9, 2009
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