Gaining its rise in the startup investment TV show, Cycloramic is an application that is available for use on iOS and Windows phones. What sets the application apart from mainstream apps is that it can make your mobile phones from compatible manufacturers, namely apple and Microsoft, rotate 360 degrees without users needing to intervene with their hands.
It works because it switches the phone’s vibrator at a specific frequency, which was not disclosed by its maker, to make the phone spin around its vertical axis. The rotation angle can be tracked using a gyroscope, accelerometer, and compass while taking panoramic images.
Evolution:
In 2012, Egos Ventures appeared on the reality TV series Shark Tank broadcasted on the ABC network, seeking $90,000 in return for 5 % for their revolutionary idea called Cycloramic. Claiming to have uniqueness and an element that sets them apart from everyday regular known applications on mobiles, they presented this application with the specialty of having a hands-free feature that allowed the user to revolve their phone automatically to take a 3D panoramic photo and video.
Quite expectedly and quickly, the application climbed the App Store Charts to the top. If you are not aware of what Shark Tank might be, it is a reality TV series broadcast on the ABC network. It is a show revolving around business pitches where aspiring entrepreneurs pitch and decipher their potential business ideas to a panel of potential, experienced, and well-known investors referred to as sharks on the show, following the show’s name.
However, this mentioned hands-free feature has the drawback of working and being compatible with only the iPhone 5 and iPhone 5s, which are capable of standing on one of its flat edges. This drawback or limitation led people who used iPhone 4 to be taking panoramic photos in a guided mode.
Like all other mobile applications, Cycloramic too had its evolution for users’ convenience. The initial or the very first version of the application was in charge of only generating panoramic videos and not pictures.
The next version was then introduced with a photo mode that allowed users to take panoramic photos along with the previous features of videos. Users could also now choose to convert their panoramic photos into movies of a span of 24-seconds with the next version, namely the 2.1 version.
According to the fourth version of the app, people could now have access to an in-app photo library that came with new editing features. These new editing features allowed the user to modify the original 14 images that were individually creating the panorama and also further allowed images, both panorama and individual, to be uploaded on social media.
However, this version was criticized due to having in-app purchases that restricted many users from using it.
Achievements
Created by Bruce Francois, this application drew attention from many journalists for its features that resulted in what came to be known as a dancing iPhone by those who witnessed this unusual feature. Regardless of whether the app received the investment it required, more than the said amount, which was $90,000, Francois received $500,000.
With its unique features, the application gained a whopping 1 million downloads in an hour of being released, making its owner earn a grand $200,000. The application further added the Pogie Award for the Brightest Ideas of 2012 to its fall of fame, awarded by David Pogue himself. This won its company Egos Ventures a still present winner on the Top 10 Innovative Companies list in Georgia.
Not only that, but it also holds a record in Shark Tank for having bagged one of the biggest investments on the show ever.
Net Worth of Cycloramic in 2024
As of December 2024, The net worth of this $25 million in equity valuation after the creator Francois managed to develop his app, making it better every day, resulting in gaining that significant amount of money.
In the years that followed, Cycloramic has reached a popularity of having been downloaded 8 million times around the world. On being asked if and when it would be available to android users, the creators ensured that it would be after it was developed according to the requirements of the android phones. It will then be available for use on all kinds of phones.