The digital services company Levira has invested €150,000 in the Estonian start-up Votemo, formerly known as Clappy.
In a statement, it says that the money will be used for product development and entry into new markets, with the purpose of the cooperation being to make European TV channels more interactive.
Commenting on the investment, Martti Kinkar, development manager for media services at Levira, said: “We believe that cooperation with Votemo will give Levira the opportunity to offer its customers innovative services and attract new customers. We will continue our joint exhibitions and joint offers this year”.
Dagmar Mäe, co-founder and CEO of Voremo, added: “Direct TV is by nature unique. Every live show is a social event that connects the viewer to one mega network. Our goal is to give TV viewers the opportunity to speak and express their feelings”.
Kinkar continued: “Votemo is already cooperating with many media and telecom companies in Estonia and abroad and has won several awards during its first year of operation. Now that the product is ready and tested, the next step is to win the hearts of major European TV stations and here Levira can help”.
Mäe pointed out that linear television loses viewers to streaming platforms and social media. “Over the past year, all major social media platforms have opened their TV service. The audience wants to talk and share their moods with others. This habit has been encoded by the daily use of social media. Since television does not yet offer these possibilities directly, the television viewer tends to disappear into the exciting worlds of social media.”
Mäe added that TV programmes use different solutions to engage the audience, such as social media and blogging environments that are not really built for the needs of TV. The serious interest of TV in engaging the audience has given us the impetus to build a platform that takes into account the specificities of TV.
Votemo was founded in 2018 by Dagmar Mäe, Maarit Mäeveer and Tõnis Vassar. It builds a platform for TV to make programmes more effective for viewers and also brings emotional icons from social media to expressing mood in addition to voting and commenting.
Votemo can be used with all TV solutions, including web TV and TV applications.