Doing Vine Before It Was Cool: Singapore Startup Snyppit Receives Seed Funding to Boost Video App

Instagram now lets users capture 15 seconds of video; Vine a more succinct six seconds. But Singapore’s Snyppit gives you a few blinks of the eye longer to express yourself compared to Vine, allowing creation and sharing of seven-second videos. Snyppit has just revealed that it recently received a $521,000 funding round led by Jungle Ventures under the NRF scheme. The round also includes a few angel investors from the US and Israel.

Snyppit aims to grow its user-base and will not monetize until it gets a solid base. Monetization plans includes special video filters, picture frames, and also selling of brand/corporate accounts.

You may find this all very similar to what you can already do with some rival apps. So is Snyppit just a direct clone and why is this Singapore startup still being funded? Calling the app a clone would be harsh as Snyppit was started in August last year and got funded in October (though it’s only revealed this week). In contrast, Twitter rolled out Vine in January and Instagram’s new video feature only popped up last week. The three apps are similar in product features and functionalities; Snyppit’s main difference being its focus on Southeast Asia countries.

Eye on Southeast Asia

Synppit founder Alon Sobol explains its focus and direction:

Competing against the Goliath-like Instagram and Twitter is a great challenge but I believe there is room for more than two big players. We are focused on the Southeast Asian market and delivering unique features and experiences that we believe are better localized for this region compared to our competitors.

Alon has a team of six based in Singapore, Malaysia and Australia. He is from the Canada and has spent more than a decade working in startups before creating Snyppit. Alon’s previous few jobs required him to travel around Asia and that helped him understand more about the region.

Having a founder who understands the startup life and the Southeast Asia market does put Snyppit in high stead when it comes to hyper localizing, marketing, and winning the Southeast Asia market. I look forward to seeing how Snyppit penetrates and acquires users in this highly diversified region. I’m also curious how the video will show up in each of the Southeast Asian countries where mobile connectivity is not the most stable.

The app is available for both Android and iOS. If you’ve tried it, let us know what you think in the comments.

(Editing by Steven Millward)