CrowdOptic takes more funding, has a suite of products in mind

I didn't think this would have to happen, but because they have their sights set on bigger and better, CrowdOptic has taken another infusion of funding.

CrowdOptic, the San Francisco-based maker of crowd-driven mobile applications, announced today that it has closed additional debt financing from Silicon Valley Bank. SVB is known as the premier bank for technology, life science, cleantech, venture capital, private equity and premium wine businesses. The company will use the financing for product and market expansion, to capitalize on runaway demand for its mobile technology, and to deliver an end-to-end mobile enterprise solution based on its core mobile enterprise technology platform.

In July 2011, CrowdOptic introduced the first technology that could cluster smartphone users by line of sight, a capability which quickly disrupted the industry space for digital media sharing and augmented reality. Since then, CrowdOptic has experienced burgeoning demand for myriad applications of its technology, including both consumer front-end applications, and back-end, big data-driven enterprise solutions, prompting a company strategy to expand the product portfolio.

This latest funding from Silicon Valley Bank puts CrowdOptic in a position to roll out a full suite of products as part of an end-to-end enterprise solution.

"On the one hand, we are powering amazing real-time consumer apps on the front end like 'Friend Spotter' from Ticketek, which connects friends at live events, and we are working with Explore Engage to embed our technology in their smart glasses, " said Jim Kovach, chief operating officer for CrowdOptic. "On the other hand, our business is also exploding in the big data analysis arena. In our deal with xTV, the leader in Interactive Cloud TV, we are combing through enormous amounts of back-end metadata to rebroadcast the most relevant content from the hottest events and news around the world. We intend to continue to expand on all these fronts in 2013. Our strong relationship with Silicon Valley Bank and their recent demonstration of their ramped up commitment to CrowdOptic will help make this possible."

It's all possible because of CrowdOptic's crowd-powered "heat" signal that focuses on crowd activity in real time as it occurs. CrowdOptic can instantly filter mobile social media and create new opportunities for eyewitness engagement. In numerous demonstrations and trials, CrowdOptic has proved they set the pace when it comes to focus-based analytic technology. This seems to be an ideal technology to be implemented by smartphone glasses, which should be a hot property at CES this year.

CrowdOptic finished off 2012 strongly and are looking for a big 2013. For more information, visit www.crowdoptic.com.