Learning from Madtech start-ups: Collider part 2

This is the second post where I look at the "mad tech" (marketing & advertising technology) companies I'm investing in through the Collider program*. Last week's Demo Day, where the start-ups pitched to get the second round of Collider funding, got profiled in Marketing online here.

If you're interested in working with any of the start-ups detailed here, please get in touch and I can help connect you, as I have done already with two leading companies.

* Collider is a "business to brand accelerator" that works by "mobilising a pot of cash, a crack team of coaches, and an intensive four month programme to help startups become sustainable businesses".

Pixoneye – scanning selfies for insight

Pixoneye were voted best start-up at the demo day. This image-recognition service scans your smartphone photos to learn about your likes and preferences, to serve you better targeted advertising. Importantly, the app only works on your phone, so no info or photos ever leave your mobile.

An example application would be a petfood company who sells both catfood and dogwood. With Pixoneye, mobile photos can be scanned to see who has pictures of dogs (they get the dogfood ad) and who has pictures of cats (they get, you guessed it, the catfood ad).

Burst – Big Data on Little Videos

Burst taps in on the growing use of "short-form" video content, such as the 7 second videos featured on Vine. I expect short form video to keep on growing, given the ever decreasing attention span of today's mobile-obsessed Millenials. In addition to Vine, understanding short-form video will also allow brands to get smarter at developing those "lead-in" videos that you see at the start of YouTube adverts. You know, the ones that say "You can skip this in 5 seconds". How do you keep people watching, and not skipping?

Burst provide brands with analytics showing data on how their short-form videos are performing on Twitter, Vine, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat. They also help clients like Chelsea football club, Vita Cocoa and Marmite create short-form video.

Real Life Analytics – smarter digital screens

Real Life Analytics equips digital screens used for in-store advertising with cameras and advanced software. This way, the advert being shown on the digital screen can then be personalised. So, a teenage girl will get a different ad to one show to a middle-aged man. Retailers can know who is in their store in real time, and can target content accordingly. The 

Head of interactive and mobile for Camelot (The UK's National Lottery), Alex Schajer, is already a fan, saying "I immediately fell in love with this product – we could recognise who was in front of our screens and deliver engaging content to them"

In a future post I will profile the remaining three start-ups who made it through to the second round of funding.