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| Nevan Murugan (left) |
All over the world everything is becoming digital; these days you can even change the channel on your TV simply by moving. Its undeniable, technology is advancing at an unprecedented rate. Another thing that is experiencing unprecedented growth worldwide is football, or soccer depending on which part of the world you come from – this is mostly because of the just concluded FIFA World Cup 2014. What do you get when you combine the two?? The most awesome app ever!! And better still, it has been developed by an African son. This month Fanmode a football start up by South African-born techpreneur Nevan Murugan is set to be the football equivalent of WhatsApp -one of the biggest applications to date- since it has received $2.4 million in a funding round for expansion and development.
The Fanmode application will allow its users to share their emotions during the game with fellow fans around the world. This graphical representation of sentiment data can be integrates onto stadium screens, and even online. For those of you who didn’t get all that tech-savvy language it basically means you’ll be able to cheer your team on through your phone with millions of people around the world and then your team might actually get to see you doing this while they are playing. You are sad Messi doesn’t know you? Thanks to Fanmode, he’s about to. The whole idea stems from the fact that football is a community sport and is best enjoyed in the company of others, and this app embodies that. Besides the football fans at home being able to be part of the live events on the pitch, the app allows user’s one-on-one group chats with other users as well as live updates on important events in the game. This will all be possible because the Fanmode team has been concentrating on building its platform with support from the one and only Wembley Stadium. Additionally they are nurturing relationships with organizations linked to the very profitable sports industry and Europe’s top divisions such as the Premier League and Spain’s premier league as well.
The app will have a full launch later this year, as a football enthusiast I cannot wait!!
Photo credits: techcitynews.com, start-ups.co.uk.
