Livestreaming is becoming increasingly popular with individuals and businesses alike. But for businesses that actually want to increase revenue through livestreaming, there aren’t quite as many options.
That’s where Peeks comes in. The company mixes livestreaming and social commerce in one platform. Read more about the offering and the business behind it in this week’s Small Business Spotlight.
What the Business Does
Offers a livestreaming platform with a social commerce twist.
Mark Itwaru, founder and CEO of Peeks told Small Business Trends, “We developed the world’s first end-to-end social commerce enabled livestreaming platform, complete with integrated mobile wallet technology and full e-commerce capabilities. Through Peeks, broadcasters are able to sell physical and digital goods to viewers via a personal interactive channel and partake in revenue sharing opportunities with brands, seamlessly, all without ever leaving the Peeks platform. Viewers can also utilize their mobile wallet to tip broadcasters with real cash rather than digital currency.”
Business Niche
Letting people monetize live video.
Itwaru says, “We had a monetization model in place from day one. We are truly monetizing social media and video with our technology that is introducing social commerce to the world.”
How the Business Got Started
Through a series of entrepreneurial ventures.
Itwaru says, “Long story short, I created the service, patented its requisite components and financed it. I started working in technology for AT&T and building communications systems, before leaving to start my own payment processing company Navaho Networks, which processed billions of dollars of transactions. I first developed the concept of social commerce that laid the groundwork for Peeks through my holding company, Personas, in 2013. I then spent $19.3 million developing the technology behind the current and forthcoming livestreaming, broadcasting, monetization and ecommerce capabilities to create Peeks.”
Biggest Win
Acquiring another mobile brand.
Itwaru explains, “In the very beginning, we acquired Keek (KEK) (otcqb:KEEKF) and in first few days following the full launch of the service, new registrations on Peeks were already averaging over 6,000 per day, an increase of approximately 4,000% from the beta product. The growth was driven by a number of factors, including legacy Keek mobile users updating to new Peeks accounts, a number of early celebrity influencer programs and through organic growth.”
Biggest Risk
Self-funding the business.
Itwaru says, “I decided to fund and create our entire platform from scratch to completion, which took three years without driving revenues. Had I not completed the Peeks platform, I would have invested a lot of my time and money without a return.”
How They’d Spend an Extra $100,000
Marketing.
Itwaru says, “An extra $100,000 would be used for marketing to grow our user base beyond its 75 million registered users.”
Favorite Quote
“You don’t want to make the wrong mistake.” – Yogi Berra
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Images: Peeks — Top Image: John Kanakis, VP of Business Development, Mark Itwaru, founder and CEO, Alex Macdonald, CFO (Keek)
This article, “Spotlight: Peeks Mixes Livestreaming and Social Commerce” was first published on Small Business Trends