Banjo, a highly visual app and website that allows users to experience news breaks and live events in real time through the eyes of the people who are there, today announced the completion of the $16 million Series B funding round. Balderton Capital led the round with the participation of existing and new investors, including BlueRun Ventures and Vegas Tech Fund, bringing Banjo’s total funding to $21 million. Investments will be used to accelerate ambitious growth plans by recruiting top talent, expanding the global user base and enhancing the enterprise platform for media partnerships.
‘Banjo has harnessed the pervasive nature of mobile location technology and social platforms to create a unique real-time event engine,’ said John Malloy, General Partner and Co-Founder of BlueRun Ventures. ‘For users, this means a contextually relevant view of events as they unfold, anywhere, at any time. For our media partners, this unprecedented real-time merger with relevant social content adds context and increases the value of their offering. ”
‘In addition to being a destination for consumers, the media business recognizes Banjo as a critical partner providing access to on-the-ground content for news breaks and live events,’ said Roberto Bonanzinga, Partner, Balderton Captial. ‘We are impressed that Banjo has worked side by side with media companies including NBC, FOX and BBC to report on real-time events and news as they happen. At this stage, this type of adoption is rare for companies, and I believe this is just the beginning. ”
Banjo launched its first web version last week and went live on iOS and Android with a groundbreaking new feature called Banjo Rewind. The technology behind Banjo Rewind enables people to search past events and go back to specific moments in time. Now Banjo combines its real-time location-based curation with a full historical view of what has happened anytime, anywhere in the world.
‘Banjo is changing the way people consume news breaking and experience live online and mobile events,’ said Damien Patton, CEO of Banjo. ‘Rewind is doing for the Internet what TiVO has done for television. We serve a world of people who consume and post digitally, and now there’s a way to marry past and present in a seamless user experience. Within seconds on Banjo, you can get caught up in the latest world event or take a breath to relive a defining moment in the history of sports, news or entertainment with Rewind. Banjo has become part of the guilty pleasure, part of the critical source, and, as I see it, my job is to continue driving features that enhance user experience and change the game for our media partners. ”
Banjo’s About
Founded in 2011 by Damien Patton, Banjo is known as ‘The Live Internet,’ because it offers users and all access passes to news breaks and live events. By indexing the world’s largest collection of social posts by location, time and content, Banjo users can experience what’s going on anywhere in the world through the eyes of the people who are there. In 2013, Banjo was named one of the Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Local by Fast Company and recognized as Google’s top mobile developer in 2012. Visit http://ban’ Oh, jo/
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