Innovative video commerce startup Taggled nets £300,000 investment
Taggled TV, one of Northern Ireland’s hottest startups whose technology enables vloggers to tag products, music, locations and even people within video, has completed its initial seed funding round securing £300,000 in growth capital.
Taggled, which is based in Belfast’s Northern Ireland Science Park and has a core team of five staff, will use the investment for product and business development. The funding has been provided by a consortium of investors, which includes Co-Fund NI, a Fund created by Invest Northern Ireland and part financed by the European Regional Development Fund.
Recently the company successfully beat off competition from companies such as RTE Radio 1 to win ‘Most Innovative Website’ at the the Realex Fire Web Awards. The awards are held annually to recognise people who do great things on the web and are open to anyone in Ireland.
Taggled CEO Ian Scott said: “This has been a very exciting time for the company and this fresh investment will enable Taggled to scale up, increase headcount and fully launch our product in European and US markets in the near future. Our aim is to offer vloggers a simple, informative tool for creating dynamic and interactive content for their users and this funding will maximise our ability to do this.”
Neil Simms, from Clarendon Fund Managers who manages Co-Fund NI investments, said: “Taggled is precisely the type of innovative start-up that we are delighted to be able to invest in. Its fresh approach to creating truly engaging, interactive video offers vast potential for vloggers, consumers and brands across a wide range of markets.”
Taggled is a free tool that adds a fresh dimension to vlogging by empowering their user base. When tagged content is clicked, a pop-up window displays more information including vendor details, prices and similar products. This makes video a more social experience that puts consumers in touch with the brands they like while delivering revenue for the vlogger. To see a Taggled video in action log on to http://taggled.tv/play/297
To tag video, users can simply upload a video to the Taggled site or add video content from YouTube, Dropbox or Instagram. Taggled is being trialled with a number of vloggers in the fashion and beauty sectors, and will be rolled out across the Irish and international vlogger community in the coming weeks.
Concluding, Mr Scott said: “Taggled is the only product of its type that’s free to the vlogger - its simple drag-and-drop technology makes it accessible to any vlogger interested in creating revenue around their passion. We have big plans for 2014 and will be bringing Taggled to the New Media Expo and IAWTV Awards in the US.”