Why the Giroptic start-up in Lille crashes the screen
Autor: Mystérieux | Publicado: 2017-04-22T05:38:00-07:00


With its iO camera, the start-up in Lille intends to conquer the world thanks to its advanced technology and the support of social networks.







The small, brightly colored camera clips onto a smartphone, designed to shoot 360 degree videos that can be viewed with a virtual reality headset. On April 18, at the annual Facebook Developers' Conference (Facebook 8), at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California, all guests had the Giroptic iO camera on hand. A nice advertising stroke for the start-up Lille, designer of the craft, adept media performances. Last year, Richard Branson invited his founder, Richard Ollier, to "pitcher" at Necker Island, his private island in the Caribbean.

Facebook Partner

For more than a year, the little Frenchman traces his way amid colossi like Samsung and Nikon, who also launched their cameras 360 degrees. "Giroptic has several years of experience in the 360 ​​degree camera and the ability to produce on an industrial scale," says Romain Lavault, partner at Partech Ventures , One of Giroptic's investors. Better: compatible with Apple devices since its release last December, at 249 euros, it will be marketed at the end of April in version suitable for smartphones running Android.

Facebook's invitation to the heart of Silicon Valley was a total surprise. "On January 23rd, we received a purchase order of 4,400 coins from Facebook and an invitation to participate as a Facebook F8 partner," exclaims Richard Ollier, 37, with stars in his eyes. One factor has played in its favor: the camera is also compatible with Facebook Live, which allows live video on the social network. This is the secret boot of Giroptic: the sharing of images on social networks. Its patented solution supports shooting at once. While its competitors must restore the 360-degree image with software. "The use is not to store photos, but to share moments with friends," argues Richard Ollier.

Since the announcement of Facebook, "the box turns full, including weekends," he tells while wandering in the open space, within the incubator EuraTechnologies, installed in the former red brick spinning . In one year, the young sho has almost doubled its workforce, from 25 to 45 employees in Lille. It opened in 2016 an office in San Francisco, directed by Pascal Brocher, a former electronic Arts video game giant. A dozen recruits are expected.

New round of table in sight

Giroptic had to force his destiny to achieve notoriety. Originally, in 2008, the company was developing 360-degree imaging solutions for real estate professionals. It rotated in 2014 to manufacture a camera for the general public, the Giroptic 360cam, and counter the first sports cameras, such as the GoPro. The adventure could have ended very quickly: a violent conflict opposed him to his former partner Decathlon, with whom he had to market a panoramic camera. An amicable agreement was reached the following year, but the dispute delayed the start-up.


As a result, Giroptic received $ 1.5 million from Kickstarter's participatory financing platform and won 4,000 pre-orders. By the end of 2015, start-up raised 4.5 million euros from investors. The difficulties now seem to come from the past: Giroptic is preparing a new round, which Richard Ollier hopes to double-digits.