Hong Kong-based social travel app, Spottly, has raised US$850,000 in seed round funding from investors that include Silicon Valley-based incubator 500Startups, Cherubic Ventures, Gobi Partners and a number of individual angel investors.
Edwyn Chan: People love moving images more than images.
Spottly will use the proceeds to focus on growth in local markets and expansion in new markets, as well as to develop the first social travel app focusing on video content.
Edwyn Chan, founder and chief spotter of Spottly, said, “People love images but what people love even more are moving images. We want to create the perfect product for people to share their curated recommendations of their favourite places, anywhere in the world”.
With the launch of the app’s v.2.0 version, which is available today (September 18), Spottly introduces video, bringing users a more immersive way to share their travel recommendations through motion and sound.
With the video feature users can now share videos such as a clip of elephants passing by at their favourite safari in Africa or surfers tackling a wave at a hidden beach in Thailand. By capturing those moments with a short video, a user can share the closest experience of being at a location without actually being there.
Spottly’s first social travel app to focus on video.
Spottly said it is the first social travel app to focus on video. The app officially launched in Hong Kong in May this year. It is available in 14 different languages with a growing user base from Hong Kong, China, Taiwan and Thailand.
Spottly v2.0 is optimised for iOS 8, released by Apple on 17 September. It natively supports iPhone 6’s and iPhone 6 Plus’ increased resolution. The Today Widget extension lets users know if places they saved are nearby within the today view on the iOS 8 notification screen.
The company will launch an Android version of Spottly next month.
• Images credit: Spottly
