2Mee’s service, Facee, literally makes brands ‘customer facing’ by allowing them to generate a live face message using any camera-enabled device and send it as a general broadcast or to any individual or subset of customers with known common interests, geographical locations or needs – all at a lower cost than rich notifications. The company has already acquired a major contract in the gaming sector, which intends to use Facee to provide a premium service to over a million online users.
The story
2Mee was founded in 2012 by Chris Knight and James Riley, who developed the company’s hologram technology to address the perceived need for human interaction within the world of augmented reality (AR). Facee messages are device agnostic and are delivered by 2Mee’s proprietary cloud architecture. The user simply adds the free software development kit to their existing app and is then able to buy bundles of user-time to gain access to the 2Mee Exchange.
In mid-2018, the company intends to open up an automated website where business customers across the world can access Facee technology by means of a simple download. By the end of 2018, it is anticipated that an artificial intelligence (AI) facility will be available whereby businesses can add features to their apps so that object recognition or a spoken sentence will trigger an appropriate Face Message for customers. Research and development is continuing with an emphasis on creating a further product that allows people to instantly create and send full body holograms as AR or VR appearances.
CEO and Co-Founder, James Riley, previously spend four years working with a team of 30 developers building one of the world’s most sophisticated e-learning platforms for the Austrian government. In 2008, he founded his own digital creative agency, Ten54.com, with clients ranging from the academic sector to high technology.
Chairman and Co-Founder, Chris Knight, is a creative marketer. He also has experience in startups, having built up his own UK-based advertising agency and PR company which was voted UK Agency of the Year in 2000.
The lead investor
David McGuffie has 42 years’ experience in banking. He was head-hunted by RBS, where he headed up a wealth management team at its subsidiary, Adam & Co private banking. David enjoys investing in innovative, disruptive technology which he can readily understand. He considers confidence in the management team and exit potential at a significant multiple on his investment as two key factors when deciding whether to invest. David believes in 2Mee’s highly sustainable business plan and the strength of the company’s technology allied to its current and pending global patents.
I find the technology to be innovative and disruptive in the digital mobile sector, and I believe in the highly sustainable business plan
David McGuffie
Lead investor
What investors say
‘2Mee Ltd has an outstanding solution for a wide range of applications. In my opinion, the patent and licence challenge in US are an ‘add-on’ because the most important part is the technology itself and the ability to have a first-mover advantage when the product is going live.’