Ben Keighran (born March 1982) is an Australian born technology entrepreneur and serial entrepreneur. He is the founder and CEO of social broadcasting platform Caffeine.[1]

Early life and education

Ben Keighran was born in March 1982 in Sydney, Australia. By the age of 13, Keighran had taught himself to code C++ and launched a popular bulletin board system that overwhelmed his parents' phone line.[1]

Career

In 2006, Ben Keighran relocated from Sydney to San Francisco, where he raised $6.5 million for his mobile social messaging application, Bluepulse.[1]

Bluepulse launched in December 2006 as a social messaging app, where Keighran worked on designing a standard for publishing content on mobile, including text messages and other types of communications.[2] A year after founding Bluepulse, in 2007 Keighran was named one of America's Top Entrepreneurs under 25 by BusinessWeek.

Keighran's next venture was serving as the lead advisor for social search service Aardvark's mobile strategy.[3] Aardvark was eventually acquired by Google for $50 million in 2010.[3]

After Aardvark, Keighran went on to found app search and discovery platform Chomp in 2009 which raised a little over $2.5 million over two rounds of funding from BlueRun Ventures, SV Angel founder Ron Conway, Aydin Senkut, David Lee, Brian Pokorny and Auren Hoffman.[1]  Ashton Kutcher and Digg founder Kevin Rose were also advisors to the company.[1] Chomp was one of the earliest startups to offer both app search and personalized app recommendations for the iPhone app. Keighran led the company in developing its unique app search formula and filing 11 patents based on these new app search technologies and user experience. Chomp's iPhone app offered app search and personalized app recommendations as well, making the startup one of the earliest services to offer that mixed functionality.[4] After expanding its services to Android, Chomp partnered with Verizon to offer an app search engine for the mobile network operator's mobile app marketplace, V Cast and all Verizon apps.[4] In 2012, Chomp was acquired by Apple for $50 million and the technology was used to help overhaul the iTunes and App Store search experience.[5]

After joining Apple, Keighran spent the next four years overseeing software design on the Apple TV.[6] Keighran helped design the look and feel of the software featured in the 4th generation Apple TV.[7] Keighran played a role in Apple TV's receival of an Emmy for its Siri integration.[8] In 2016, Keighran left Apple to start his most recent company Caffeine.

Caffeine is a social broadcasting platform that delivers live, interactive content at the intersection of gaming, sports, and entertainment. Caffeine has raised $146 million to date from investors in 3 rounds led by 21st Century Fox, Andreesen Horowitz, and Greylock Partners. Most recently, Caffeine secured a $100 million investment in September 2018 from 21st Century Fox with chairman Lachlan Murdoch joining Caffeine's board, as well as the creation of a newly formed joint venture called Caffeine Studios.[9] The studio produces exclusive gaming, esports, sports, and live entertainment content that is streamed to Caffeine's audience.[10]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Moses, Ben Grubb and Asher (24 February 2012). "Chomp, chomp: Apple eats Aussie start-up for $US50m". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  2. ↑ The Fastest-Growing Social Network for Mobile Phones, archived from the original on 21 December 2021, retrieved 23 October 2019
  3. 1 2 "Google Acquires Aardvark For $50 million (Confirmed)". TechCrunch. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  4. 1 2 "Chomp To Begin Powering App Search For Android Phones Via Verizon Apps". TechCrunch. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  5. ↑ "Apple acquires Chomp for $50M". www.theaustralian.com.au. 24 February 2012. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  6. ↑ Kafka, Peter (19 January 2016). "Apple TV Designer Ben Keighran Is Leaving". Vox. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  7. ↑ "Apple TV designer Ben Keighran leaves Apple, plans to create new startup". MobileSyrup. 19 January 2016. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  8. ↑ Campbell, Mikey (29 August 2017). "Apple wins technical Emmy award for Apple TV Siri integration". AppleInsider. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  9. ↑ Flynn, Kerry (23 January 2019). "Gaming creators are warming up to Fox-backed Twitch competitor Caffeine". Digiday. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  10. ↑ Roettgers, Janko (5 September 2018). "21st Century Fox Invests $100 Million in Social Live-Streaming Startup Caffeine". Variety. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
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