SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Inspired by the world of multiplayer gaming, ex-Sony gaming executive and CE...
Problem
61% of young people report serious loneliness
Gen Z is isolated by watching 7.2 hours of video a day, alone. While 'old' media is still stuck in the 1950’s—with passive, 1-way broadcasts—games leverage connectivity, simple interfaces, and high quality microphones to create truly connected, side-by-side experiences.
Global connectivity 10x’d the $200B game business.
Now it’s transforming the $2T media business.
The phone is the center of Gen Y & Z’s media and social life. Our phones don’t have to isolate us. They can connect us, like multiplayer games do.
Solution
Turn connectivity into community
Hearo has invested $3 million and 4 years of R&D, to turn the endless hours we watch alone into the perfect time to connect with friends—and (soon) to make new friends—who share our passions for movies, streams, sports, shows & events.
Our platform transforms passive media into a connected, fun, social experience: a buzzing virtual venue with applause and cheering. Our users love it, with 18 months of viral growth to over a million users, long (hour+) sessions, and near 100% engagement, like in a physical venue.
Can we make friends on the internet?
(Hint—join a Hearo Hub)
Skilled gamers can—like joining a sports team. But today there’s no internet equivalent of a friendly cafe or sports bar, a safe place to meet like minded folks. In Q2 2022 Hearo is launching Hubs, a 24x7 sports-bar like experience to meet and make new friends.
Anyone with a shared passion, from superfans to media professionals, can own their own Hearo hub/franchise/DAO to create a gathering place—a global home base for media/show/sports lovers of all types, from Netflix to TikTok to ESPN.
The future of media and the metaverse is safe, 24x7, media-focused social hubs: virtual sports bars, theaters, classrooms, music/social clubs and other virtual venues, sized from living rooms to stadiums. Just like real sports bars or entertainment venues, these are places you can go, day or night, to watch your favorites with old or new friends.
Product
Zoom replaced the call
Hearo replaces the TV
The iPhone generation, hyper-connected and mobile first, watches more video, but 82% less TV than people who grew up when TV was king. Instead of staring passively at videos, Hearos talk, text and co-watch one of 50+ video services, together, from Netflix to ESPN. Multiple private ‘boxes’ per event, and robust echo cancellation lets Hearos talk freely, without bothering the whole audience. It works like this:
At heart, Hearo blends two technologies, a cross platform (Android, iOS, Windows, Mac and web), software based, smart TV, married to a fun, safe, voice based social network. We call our patent pending invention Multiplayer TV.
Try it for yourself. Go to Hearo.Live, download Hearo and invite your friends, the more the merrier, or join one of our upcoming Hearo Hubs and make new friends who share your passions.
Traction
1 million users and 35x usage jump since July 2020
Averaging 100% usage growth per quarter
It's still early. We're building a unique experience that more and more friends and fans are discovering.
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Hearo is hyper-engaging
With 90x Twitch's engagements
Hearo delivers the buzzing, there-in-real-life feel of physical venues, not the muted experience of Twitch, Zoom and YouTube.
Customers
B2B2C
Like a physical venue, we have two sets of customers: end users who enjoy the show, and business users or partners who run the show. Our virtual venues make our partner's media hyper-engaging, which drives buzz, loyalty, virality, and revenue.
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Early Adopters
Friends aren’t the only ones who want to gather and have fun together. We’re working with the EBU, the world’s largest sports broadcaster, ESTV, All Elite Wrestling and more, as media creators need to connect and own their audiences, like games do so well.
Our largest deal in 2021 was a $50,000 contract with the USAF, and we hope to create a hub or virtual venue for Air Force Gaming (esports) in the future.
Business model
Hyper-engagement maximizes revenues
We share revenues with our partners, from community hub leaders to media rights holders. We are developing the premium version of Hearo, with video avatars and more. We are researching DAOs for exclusive communities and NFTs for exclusive digital goods.
Longer term we see multiple revenue sources
@ $.25-$5 per user per month (estimate)
Market
Media and Entertainment is a $2.3 trillion dollar industry
See: PWC global entertainment and media outlook.
We bring the engaging user experience and technology from the $200B game business to the 10x larger media and entertainment and media market.
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Hearo is mobile first (>90% Android and iOS) and 5G ready, in a world with 5+ billion mobile devices
Our users are global (100+ countries);
and young:
Competition
Like a game, couch,
or theater—
Not Zoom or Twitch
Twitch is the best known watch party. It works like a multiplayer game, twenty years ago. Hearo is different. Instead of typing with muted strangers, Hearos talk with friends—like they are sitting on a couch in front of a TV, or sharing a VIP suite, or playing a multiplayer game, together.
Twitch is one of the 50 video services we support. To let you watch all your favorites while talking together, we had to write the software to turn any phone or PC into a synchronized smart TV, and to build a high fidelity voice social network with robust echo cancellation—two difficult engineering projects. Maybe that’s why we are unique.
Media communities platforms comparison

Vision and strategy
Super Hearo & Hearo Hubs
In 2021, thanks to our first Republic campaign, we delivered our key objectives:
- Integration the top 50+ streaming services, both video on demand and live streaming
- Released on Windows, Mac, iOS, Android and web
- English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Arabic, Turkish, Malay
- Increased usage 35x
- First revenues ($50k with the USAF)
Investing in Hearo now gives us the fuel to:
- Launch Hearo Hubs - A 24x7 sports-bar like experience to meet new friends, something seemingly missing from the internet (outside of multiplayer games).
- Launch Super Hearo - A premium version of Hearo with live video performances, video avatars and more. Finally performers can hear their audience, and the audience can be heard!
- Begin monetization, and share revenue with our Hub and Super Hearo partners
- Raise a strategic A round
- Continue to grow like crazy!
Funding
$3.49M raised to date
from VC's and prominent game tech angels
Investor | Bio |
Republic | Leading private investment platform |
Tim Chae, GP 500 Startups | |
Silicon Valley seed stage investment fund | |
Ex Chief Scientist NVIDIA. Winner 2019 IEEE Cray Prize | |
Milo Sprague | Ex CTO Silicon Valley Bank |
First Director of Engineering, Google | |
Co-founder Electronic Arts. Founder of Bullpen Capital | |
Founder Harmonix (Rock Band). Game-tech angel | |
Jez San (OBE) | Game and online poker pioneer |
Owner Berkeley Ventures | |
Managing Director , Spark Investment | |
David You | CEO, Dream One Vision Singularity Fund |
Founders
Ned & Co. makes new media platforms
Edward (Ned) Lerner, Founder and CEO
Ned wrote the game that Electronic Arts based their IPO on in 1987, Chuck Yeager’s Advanced Flight Trainer; cofounded Looking Glass Technologies, a seminal 3D game company; then Multitude, one of the first internet game companies; and FireTalk, the first million user Internet voice conferencing service.
He was also the CTO of EA/Maxis—working on The Sims, when it was the world’s #1 game.
From 2003–2017 he was Director of Engineering at PlayStation, where he helped make the PS4, the world’s leading game console.
Dwight Kwok, VP Business Development
Dwight was the GM Greater China at Xsolla, where he was responsible for monetizing huge media and entertainment properties. He built and then managed trans-pacific business portfolio and P&L, including their brand and revenue growth strategies, and key partnerships with game distribution platforms and fintech partners.