It was July 2012 and Marc García and Sergio Palomino were at Montmeló, one of the most famous racetracks in Europe. Marc had been working for 12 years at Yamaha, establishing a close relationship with the world of MotoGP and other motor sports.
“I used to go to the races all the time, but given my job at Yamaha I had access to some areas that others didn’t”, Marc says in an interview with Novobrief. “That day Sergio and I decided to watch the race from the stands and we realized how little the general public can see from there”.
The now two co-founders (along with Toni Felguera) of Viuing went home that day and started doing research on the topic, noticing that there were no companies -big or small- providing the public with a better view of the event. And that’s how Viuing was born.
The Barcelona-based startup sells a small and disposable €15 device to attendants of various events. The device is based on TV technology (DVT) and it includes a small screen that broadcasts a live feed of the event.
The idea is that those who buy it can approach motor events, music festivals or even corporate events from a different angle.
Viuing’s business model
The device is useful in two circumstances: when the spectator wants to see something they can’t with their very own eyes and when a brand wants to communicate with attendants of a specific event. “Think about it”, Marc says providing an example. “The brands who partner with us have a pretty good idea of who they are approaching: young people from a certain geographic area that like sports and are willing to pay a certain fee for them”.
Besides advertising, the young startup plans to monetize Viuing in two other ways:
- By selling the device for €15 (below cost of production)
- With revenue share agreements with big events
Marc admits that these days many have never heard about Viuing, and that’s why they have to pay big events to be able to stream them through their devices.”Hopefully this will change over time, as our services improve and as attendants start requesting our services”.
So far Viuing has received investment from Sitka Capital and the startup also went through Conector, the Barcelona-based accelerator led by Carlos Blanco. Oriol Juncosa, formerly of Nauta Capital, is also an advisor to the company. The startup is currently closing a new round of funding to continue expanding its operations and growing the team.
“Our roadmap is pretty aggressive and 2015 might be a key year for us”, Marc says. “The US is the biggest market for live and sports events and we want to be there. We know this is a volume business and we’re all in”.
