PingTank
closedSocial network application for android- and ios-based devices.
| Date | Investors | Amount | Round |
|---|---|---|---|
| investor | €0.0 | round | |
| N/A | €0.0 | round | |
$450k | Seed | ||
| Total Funding | 000k | ||
PingTank, Inc. operated in the social media application space, focusing on enhancing visual communication for social media users. The company was founded in 2014 by Jeremy Greene, Derek Myska, Lars Jensen, and Christopher Dawes. Greene, the visionary, and Myska, the CTO with a computer-science degree, were inspired to enter the tech world after watching the movie *The Social Network*. Greene's personal journey is notable, having overcome a challenging upbringing in the foster care system to become a tech entrepreneur. His background as a musician on MySpace provided him with an early understanding of online marketing and promotion.
The core of PingTank's business was a mobile application that allowed users to overlay 2D and 3D animations, or "pings," onto their photos and videos. These creations could then be shared across various social platforms like Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and Twitter. A significant milestone was achieved in March 2015 when PingTank integrated directly into Facebook Messenger, making the app accessible to a massive user base. The company's user base grew to over 400,000 within its first year, and it successfully raised $2.2 million in capital from investors including Tim Draper.
PingTank's business model was twofold. The consumer-facing app was free to download and use. Revenue was generated through a B2B strategy, where the company partnered with brands to create custom, branded animations. When users applied these sponsored animations to their photos, it created organic, viral marketing for the brands. These brand partnerships were priced between $25,000 and $100,000 for the creation of custom animation packages. The company also developed a B2B SDK and white-label solution called Emogine, designed to integrate the 3D overlay functionality directly into other applications. Despite its initial traction and high-profile partnerships, the company eventually went out of business, as reported in early 2019.
Keywords: photo animation, social media app, animated overlays, viral marketing, brand integrations, mobile application, photo editing, video effects, Facebook Messenger integration, Derek Myska, Jeremy Greene, Tim Draper, branded content, user-generated content, visual communication, social sharing, digital stickers, animated emoticons, photo enhancement, Emogine SDK