Germany-based video chat app Vive has secured $1.5 million in seed funding. The investors include several European angels. PRESS RELEASE BERLIN, GERMANY – Weds 8 Oct-vive [vive.me], a mobile video-chat community, has announced $1.5m in seed funding from a collection of prominent European angels, including previous investors in SoundCloud, Evernote and ResearchGate. Founded in 2012 in Hanover by a trio of mobile video veterans the iOS app launched out of beta in June, vive aims to introduce likeminded people worldwide to video chat. A fully optimized iPad version launches this week. vive already has more than 150,000 signups, with over 40% of its members using the app on a daily basis to practise languages, connect with people around the world, collaborate creatively and to share experiences – there’s even a Buddhist monk offering insight and advice. vive is a membership-only service. Once a new member is accepted, they are offered suggestions from a personalized feed of other members who are available and relevant based on shared interests. vive has its HQ in Hanover, Germany and has offices and community management teams working 24/7 in San Francisco and Berlin. Conversations on vive last 15 mins on average, with the longest call lasting 13 hours. The majority of attempts to connect result in a successful call within an hour. Calls are free for users of the app. “Our goal is to create the most authentic, emotional and human experience online,” co-founder and CEO Arnd Aschentrup explains. “For the last two decades, people have felt increasingly dislocated. Social networks keep us busy with self-promotion, but they’re not very good at connecting us emotionally. Texting and photo-sharing can’t create the feeling we have with a great face-to-face conversation, while anonymous apps leave us less connected to real-world experiences. “vive’s mission is to create happiness through connection. To offer a community in the old sense of the word, but rethought for the digital age.” vive is among the first mobile apps worldwide to adopt WebRTC, a new open standard championed by Google and Mozilla, for reliable, high-quality P2P video conversations. “Video chat for consumers has been lacking for decades, but finally technology has become reliable enough to provide a great experience on smartphones and tablets, for free,” says Aschentrup. “And vive adds real social value to it.” About vive vive was founded by Arnd Aschentrup, Matthias Kleimann and Tobias Dickmeis, a highly experienced team that has been building digital products and companies for more than ten years. Arnd and Tobias were co-founders of Cyoshi Mobile GmbH, an early mobile video platform that was acquired by Mobile Streams plc, a listed British American mobile content company, in 2006. As COO of Mobile Streams, Arnd oversaw the company’s operations across 14 subsidiaries worldwide. During that time he experienced how powerful video chat was to bring teams from different continents together. When Matthias and Arnd became fathers, they saw first-hand how their toddlers connected so much more closely with their far-away grandparents through video chat. The vive mission is to reintroduce that special feeling of closeness that happens when you have a meaningful conversation with someone. Something that’s been lost in the world of information overload and random connections. vive uses WebRTC – the new open standard for web-based video chat, and among the first to deliver high-quality P2P video calls on mobile. This development is being supported by the European Fonds for regional development (EFRE). Several prominent European investors have invested in vive, including: • Christoph F. Maire (Atlantic Internet, investor in SoundCloud, EyeEm, Tape.tv, Monoqi) • Dr. Ralph Eric Kunz (Catagonia Capital) • Ludwig zu Salm (Lunet Entertainment, Investor in Palantir, Skygrid, Evernote) • Martin Sinner (investor in Simfy, ResearchGate, Refined Labs, mysportbrands, Payango, Scarosso) • Dr. Markus Englert (Atlantic Capital Partners, investor in tape.tv, gekkoboard, zooppa) • Dr. Hubertus Hoffmann (World Security Network) • Hannover Beteiligungs Fond (HBF) • Mittelständische Beteiligungsgesellschaft Niedersachen (MBG)