vChatter
The All New Vchatter.com coming soon! - social networking.
| Date | Investors | Amount | Round |
|---|---|---|---|
| N/A | €0.0 | round | |
| N/A | $350k | Seed | |
| Total Funding | 000k | ||
vChatter emerged in 2010 as a video chat application operating on Facebook, positioning itself as a moderated alternative to the then-popular Chatroulette. The company was founded by Will Bunker, who previously co-founded and sold the highly successful dating site Match.com, leveraging his experience in online social connection. His vision for vChatter was to create the "world's largest coffee shop," a space where users could always find someone interesting to talk to. The platform was established by Dan Owen and Hitesh Parashar and was based in Menlo Park, California.
The service was designed to foster a comfortable environment for users to discover and connect with new people through live video. By requiring users to log in via their Facebook accounts, vChatter aimed to increase safety and accountability, moving away from the anonymity that characterized its predecessors. This integration also allowed the platform to intelligently match users based on shared interests, age, and language, enhancing the potential for meaningful connections. For instance, the system could connect fans of the same music band, assuming they might share a similar outlook. To further improve user experience and safety, vChatter implemented random screening of chats to identify and remove inappropriate behavior and planned to feature popular, engaging users, making them easier to find.
The company secured $600K in total seed funding over two rounds in 2010 and 2011 to fuel its growth. At its peak in early 2011, the service reported 1.3 million active users. The business model focused on providing a free-to-use platform, likely intending to monetize through advertising or premium features, similar to other social platforms of the era. The platform operated in the competitive social networking and online communication market, with rivals including major players like YouTube and Dailymotion.
Keywords: video chat, social discovery, Facebook application, online communication, user matching, content moderation, random chat, Will Bunker, social networking, online dating