5by
5by scours the internet for the best videos, and hand-delivers the ones you want to watch It's curated, free, and awesome.
| Date | Investors | Amount | Round |
|---|---|---|---|
| investor | €0.0 | round | |
N/A | Acquisition | ||
| Total Funding | 000k | ||
5by was a video concierge service designed to curate and deliver personalized video content to users. Founded in Montreal in 2012 by serial entrepreneur Greg Isenberg, the company aimed to solve the problem of content overload on platforms like YouTube and Vimeo. Isenberg's frustration with finding quality videos to watch, similar to channel surfing on traditional television, was the catalyst for creating 5by. He started his entrepreneurial journey at a young age, co-founding Wall Street Survivor, a popular stock market simulator, before venturing into 5by.
The platform operated as a "video concierge," presenting users with a continuous stream of videos tailored to their interests, mood, and available time. By asking users a few initial questions, such as their mood or how much time they had, 5by would generate a customized playlist. The service learned from user behavior, refining its recommendations as users watched and rated videos, creating a more personalized experience over time. Its mobile-first approach was central to its strategy, targeting users during moments of downtime. The business model focused on providing a platform for advertisers to reach highly targeted audiences based on the detailed user profiles and preferences collected by the app.
Just 11 months after its launch, 5by was acquired by the content discovery engine StumbleUpon in September 2013, marking StumbleUpon's first-ever acquisition. The deal was described as a strategic move into the rapidly growing mobile video market. Following the acquisition, the entire six-person 5by team, including Isenberg, relocated from Montreal to StumbleUpon's headquarters in San Francisco to continue developing 5by as a standalone product. The app was launched on iOS in Canada shortly after the acquisition and later became available for Android.
Keywords: video curation, content discovery, video concierge, personalized video, mobile video app, StumbleUpon, Greg Isenberg, video recommendation engine, content personalization, online video platform, video streaming service, user mood, interest-based content, mobile content consumption, video advertising, curated playlists, media technology