SCVNGR: Woo hoo, now we can go buy some vowels!
Mobile location has always lent itself so well to real world real world guided tours and scavenger hunts. This summer I came across a company Plott.me which was looking to create a platform for anyone wishing to create their own guided city tour, and a few weeks back I chatted with another company Toura with a similar goal, but largely focused on creating similar experiences for museums and attractions, albeit with location as a secondary element.
But the one that seems to be getting the most attention is a Boston company called SCVNGR, thanks to a $4 million investment from Google Ventures, and word that they’re already generating over $1 million in revenue and are profitable in their first year of operation.
SCVNGR has created a platform that allows individuals or groups such as businesses and schools to create their own location based scavenger hunt games. Early customers are using the service for things like corporate team building, or on campuses for orientations and tours.
Two things that seem designed to help SCVNGR stand out are the super friendly, easy to use interface and also the broad cross section of devices supported meaning that that most anyone can set up a game and play. Although I spent 30 minutes playing around with the beta version for individuals, and had mixed feeling on it. Read more
