32. Grabyo

Founder: Will Neale
Founded: July 2013 (launched September 2013)
Website: http://about.grabyo.com/

Social video is a fast-growth industry and one that London start-up Grabyo has been at the forefront of since its launch in September 2013. Created by founder Will Neale, Grabyo – which also appeared in the Startups 100 index in 2015 – offers a suite of social video production and publishing tools which can be used in real-time by digital businesses.

Using Grabyo, companies can share moments from live feeds for instant distribution across social media; think share replays of football goals or behind-the-scenes action shoots.

Neale, who has 15 years’ experience working in digital and tech, started the business after noticing how viewing consumption habits were shifting to mobile and his idea has rapidly taken off. In November 2014, high-profile sports stars including Cesc Fàbregas, Thierry Henry, Robin van Persie, and NBA star Tony Parker invested $2m and, more recently, Facebook has shown its support.

In April 2016, Facebook unveiled Graybo as the official streaming partner of its Facebook Live service. The major deal will give media publishers the ability to stream live broadcasts directly to Facebook and post instant highlights natively on Facebook throughout the live broadcast.

With its technology, impressive backing, and a 23-strong team, Grabyo has amassed a portfolio of over 60 clients across Europe, Asia, and the US in sports, news, music and entertainment.

So what’s next? Neale says he wants to continue to evolve the platform with the vision to enable publishers to connect with millions of consumers around the globe on mobile devices. The trick will be providing the right content, in the right format, at the right time…