cooliris

Cooliris, Inc. was a mobile and web media solutions provider founded in 2006 by Soujanya Bhumkar and Austin Shoemaker. The company was initially known for its 3D Wall browser plug-in, called PicLens, which transformed the user's browser into a full-screen interface for navigating online photos and videos. Soujanya Bhumkar, who served as CEO, previously worked in the food industry before co-founding the company with CTO Austin Shoemaker.

Headquartered in San Francisco, Cooliris evolved its focus towards mobile experiences. A significant achievement was the development of the native Gallery application for the Android operating system in 2010. The company developed a portfolio of products including LiveShare and an app that allowed users to browse photos from multiple services like Dropbox and Flickr in one place. Later, it launched BeamIt, a visual messaging application designed for private photo sharing that integrated viewing into the conversation flow. Cooliris also explored monetization through mobile advertising, creating a platform called Adjitsu, which was later sold to Singtel's Amobee division.

The company successfully raised a total of $27.6 million in capital over four funding rounds. Its investors included prominent venture capital firms such as Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, DAG Ventures, The Westly Group, and corporate VCs like T-Venture (Deutsche Telekom) and DOCOMO Capital. In November 2014, Cooliris was acquired by Yahoo for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition was part of Yahoo's strategy to enhance its mobile product offerings, with the 17-person Cooliris team joining Yahoo's core communications group in Sunnyvale.

Keywords: photo sharing, media aggregation, mobile messaging, Android Gallery, 3D photo wall, PicLens, BeamIt, visual messaging, browser plug-in, photo management, digital media, user experience design, mobile imaging, Soujanya Bhumkar, Austin Shoemaker, Yahoo acquisition, Kleiner Perkins, DAG Ventures, Adjitsu, LiveShare