CrowdOptic Raises Funding from Silicon Valley Bank to Bring Live Google Glass Broadcasting to Sporting Arenas, Commencing With The Sacramento Kings

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 24, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- CrowdOptic, a maker of crowd-powered mobile and wearable applications as seen at popular sporting events, today announced it has received funding to ramp up sales and marketing of its software, which curates and broadcasts live streaming video from Google Glass and other smart devices to stadium scoreboards, fan mobile devices and live TV.

The additional funding, which consists of debt financing from Silicon Valley Bank, as well as other key existing investors, is aiding the company in offering its software off the shelf and rapidly onboarding enterprise customers.

CrowdOptic's software, which detects where smart glasses are aiming and creates instant, live broadcasts using Google Glass video footage, has been adopted by tech-savvy sports franchises including Stanford Athletics and the Sacramento Kings.

The software is in high demand for its ability to use the special features of wearable technologies to their full advantage at live events, including using Google Glass's live, streaming video to create crowdsourced broadcasts.

"We power a one of a kind experience by crowdsourcing extraordinary live Google Glass footage and broadcasting the content throughout sporting venues," said CrowdOptic CEO Jon Fisher.  "With our system for curating content based on where crowds are looking, we are able to capture and instantly rebroadcast the most dazzling, action-level highlights."  CrowdOptic works by analyzing video streams in real time to determine where the most fans are aiming their devices.  It then automatically identifies all video of a moment that rates important, and streams the highest quality feed of that highlight in real time to broadcast media.

"The 'killer' combo is our technology, which knows where people are looking, and Google Glass, which can be activated with head movements," said Fisher.  "The resulting combination makes extraordinary things possible, such as people swapping vantage points in a crowd just by looking at each other."  To experience perspective sharing through Google Glass, powered by CrowdOptic, watch our NFL Greats demo video and read about CrowdOptic at the Sacramento Kings.

While an estimated 87,000 smart glasses shipped in 2013, global shipments of wearable smart glasses are predicted to reach 10 million each year by 2018, according to the research firm Juniper Research. Said Fisher: "Pervasive smart glasses in sports arenas will mean people will be able to access content by looking, as well as by dialing up screen-based applications." 

Related material: "Sacramento Kings and CrowdOptic Press Announcement"

About CrowdOptic
CrowdOptic is a new crowd-powered "heat" signal – the next evolution of location-based services that recognizes the hottest crowd activity in real time as it occurs, and also after the fact, through powerful analytics. By tracking where electronic devices are located and where they are pointed, CrowdOptic can instantly filter mobile media and create new opportunities for eyewitness engagement. CrowdOptic identifies, tags and rebroadcasts the live event experience to the world, on mobile, social TV and second screens. CrowdOptic is used around the world to power a wide range of apps that let users aim their phones to connect, report news, find friends, alternate broadcasts, cast a vote and discover others who share their focus and interests. CrowdOptic is a privately-held, venture-backed company based in San Francisco. www.crowdoptic.com.

SOURCE CrowdOptic

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