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SpatialNews.com Press Release
Hangtime Launches First App to Map Friends’ Social Future
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On the eve of SXSW® 2013, Hangtime®, Inc., the company intent on upgrading your social life, launched the first and only app that maps friends’ social future, eliminating the millions of missed opportunities to be with friends. With Hangtime, individuals can easily see friends’ social future - from concerts to poetry readings and more – so they can find new ways to hang out together. Available immediately at www.hangtime.com for use on the iPhone®, Facebook and other mobile devices, Hangtime gives users plenty of time to discover friends’ plans and join in activities that interest them most. The company is also announcing its top tier angel and institutional investors who supported the company with $3.5 million in funding since inception. The company is founded by veteran entrepreneurs Karl Jacob, Allan Carroll and Mark Halstead, whose products have delighted hundreds of millions of consumers.
Hangtime solves the problem with current apps that rely on check-ins and location sharing. By the time a person sees a check-in or gets an alert that a friend is nearby, it’s usually too late to change plans. This generates millions of missed opportunities and frustrates consumers. Hangtime avoids these issues by giving consumers all their event options in advance.
For example, Hangtime is offering the most complete view of the famous party scene at SXSW. This currently includes 1,700 events, 2 million invitations sent and over 285,000 RSVPs. This data is growing by the second and will be updated in real-time throughout the festival. Hangtime is the only app that will provide SXSW attendees information on so many events and categorize them according to how popular they are among friends and the SXSW community.
“The current state of the art is only focused on the social past and present,” said Karl Jacob, CEO and Founder. “Hangtime is the first company to focus on the social future helping people discover new opportunities to hang out.”
See Friends’ Social Plans
Hangtime lets users see friends’ social plans organized by day, hour and even by how popular the event is among friends. When users see an activity they are interested in, they simply click the “Interested” button to immediately notify friends. If friends click “Interested” as well, all interested friends are notified in real-time.
How Hangtime Works
With a user’s permission, Hangtime gathers data from Facebook and other sources regarding what friends “might” do in the future, giving them ample time to discuss and choose an activity. Hangtime then presents the information using a revolutionary interface that includes the following unique features:
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A simple “flow” user interface – drastically reduces the time it takes to explore hundreds of events by eliminating button taps and multiple gestures in favor of a one, single-finger swipe.
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A “celestial header” – playfully lets users know the event time through a visual and fun design that accurately mimics the light from the sun, moon or stars at the time the event is occurring. The celestial header changes as users scroll through different events.
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Unprecedented event information – Hangtime users can easily see what kind of crowd will be at an event simply by browsing attendee summaries or swiping to see full screen pictures of each attendee. Users are also updated in real-time about their friends’ interest in events through notifications and changes in the attendee summary.
Serial Entrepreneurs Secure $3.5 Million in Funding
Hangtime is founded by veteran entrepreneurs Karl Jacob, Allan Carroll and Mark Halstead who previously started numerous successful ventures including We’re Related, Keen, Cloudmark, and Coveroo. Jacob is a serial entrepreneur who has had five successful startups, including Dimension X which sold to Microsoft, as well as Keen which sold to AT&T. The other ventures are currently profitable and growing.
Hangtime has secured $3.5 million since inception from institutional investors including 500 Startups, Charles River Ventures, Crosslink Capital, Freestyle Capital, Greylock Partners, Intel Capital, Interwest Partners, Ignition Venture Partners, Science Inc., SV Angel, Tugboat Ventures and Webb Investment Network. Angel investors Mark Goldstein, Chris Hobbs, Tim Kendall, Steven Lurie, Dave Morin, Matt Ocko, Mark and Ali Pincus, Ben Smith and Michael Tanne also joined the round.
For more information about Hangtime, go to www.hangtime.com.
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