People’s Champion Finalist: Seenit

Start-up name: Seenit
Founder: Emily Forbes
Started in: 2014
Based in: London
Business description: Video collaboration platform

Shortlisted categories:

Women in Business Award

The Seenit story:

Almost everyone in the UK owns a smartphone and hundreds of thousands of people use theirs to film events and activities every day. So what if there was a way to monetise these hundreds of thousands of users to create your own ‘mobile film crew’? Start-up business Seenit has done just that.

Founded in January 2014 by 28 year-old entrepreneur Emily Forbes, Seenit is a video collaboration app which helps brands build their own selective ‘film crews’ by activating employees, fans and experts – rather than calling out to an existing film community who may have no real connection to the subject. The app helps businesses find influential people in their community or those talking about their brand to make them the ‘stars’.

Using the crowd-sourced model, Startups 100-listed Seenit quickly creates high quality videos with features such as a script to direct your crowd, a live feed, and time limits for each shot. What’s more, businesses can then distribute the video back out to the crowd and Forbes claims users will be far more likely to engage and share, having been involved in the video creation process.

Despite having no technical background, former video producer Forbes and her team of 10 have scaled Seenit overnight with a client list which includes the BBC, The Body Shop, Pride London and the business is currently working with the O2 for the Rugby World Cup.

Why Seenit made our 60:

Seenit is one of those businesses which you immediately hear about and think ‘Why hadn’t I thought of that?’ Its unique approach to helping brands market their business with footage which is real and personal is effectively shaking up the film production industry and, having worked with over 100 companies, this start-up’s future looks bright.

Where to find out more about Seenit:

Website: www.seenit.io
Twitter: twitter.com/seenit
Facebook: facebook.com/games/useenit_studio