Bruno Francois had a really exciting trip to the Shark Tank when he presented his company Cycloramic (Egos Ventures) to the sharks on January 31st. It doesn’t happen often but Francois’ technology that uses an iPhone’s gyroscope, cyclometer and vibrator to make the device turn around in a 360 motion, on it’s own, wowed all five sharks.
After making his initial presentation and showing the sharks that Cycloramic didn’t have any hidden hardware making the iPhone magically turn around, bids started coming left and right, with each shark participating in some kind of offer. During the episode, Shark Tank shark, independent investor and Dallas Maverick’s owner Mark Cuban waited to go in for the kill as the final offer. When his time came he offered up $1 million dollars for 30% equity in the company. Francois asked Lori Greiner to join Cuban in the investment which at the time she agreed. We heard from an outside source that moments before airing though, Greiner was out and Cuban decided to jump in and invest at $500,00 for 30%.
While enticing Francois, who had already done his homework on Cuban, the investor brought up the fact that he’s already invested in companies that would make natural partners for Cycloramic including Techstars alum Condition One. Ultimately Cuban prevailed because he actually does make a better partner for Francois.
Cycloramic is actually one of the coolest apps out there. It’s perfect for fun pictures but it’s also perfect for realtors who want to grab a 360 experience for their online listings without paying thousands of dollars. But now, Francois has developed his technology to appeal to the hottest thing in pop culture, the selfie.
Selfie’s have been around since the days of posting bathroom mirror selfies to MySpace, of course front facing cameras, Instagram and a variety of other apps have made the selfie more popular. And then there’s that little ditty by the ChainSmokers that’s burning up the pop music charts right now.
Egos Ventures new #selfie360 (yes the hashtag is in the name just like the song), combines the 360 panoramic experience with a selfie. Using #selfie360 the user first takes a 360 panoramic photo for the background and then takes a photo of themselves which becomes the foreground. The background spins around in the perfect 360 degree motion while the person who took the #selfie remains in the foreground. The app is a lot of fun at a bar, the mall or even the zoo.
Now you can immerse yourself in your selfies in ways you couldn’t even imagine. So Friday night before you hit the bathroom and smoke that cigarette, why not take a #selfie360
