What you need to know
- Mmhmm is a new company founded by the man behind Evernote.
- Mmhmm is working on a new video chat app.
Phil Libin might not be a name many are familiar with, but there's a good chance you've heard of his company. Libin created Evernote and now he's at it again with a new company he calls Mmhmm. And it's making a video chat app.
Ignoring that name for a moment, the new company wants to be what Bloomberg calls a "souped-up video communications service." The company has already raised 100 million from investors, too.
"Video has always been the most expressive way to communicate, but it hasn't been the easiest," Libin said. Mmhmm wants to change that by building on the pandemic ubiquity of video communications services like those run by Zoom, Microsoft Corp.'s Teams and Cisco's Webex. The growth of video communications tech is poised to create the foundation for a generation of new businesses, Libin said, likening the potential to the rise of smartphone-propelled companies like Instagram.
So what does Mmhmm do? Basically, it takes the video from your existing call via Zoom and whatnot, and then fiddles with it in some way.
For example, Mmhmm gives a speaker the ability to keep talking in front of slides, newscaster style, rather than relying on a screenshare feature for presentations. The software also allows presenters to create text slides within the app, rather than importing them, and mix prerecorded messages with live discussions in a fluid way. Users can turn on a function that records their side of the video, allowing presenters to replay what they just said and interact with the clip, point by point.
There's no indication when any of this will be available, but with $100 million in the bank investors will want something soon. You can read more about the app, the company, and Libin himself over on Bloomberg.
