Arbel’s new app, launched only in April, is sweeping the web and has already picked up an estimated $1.2 million in funding.
Or Arbel co-founder and CEO of Yo has announced that he has managed to secure $1.2 million in funding for his super simple but highly effective app of the same name, which only hit the market in late April of this year.
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In the fast moving world of social media communications were everything seems possible, and investors are prepared to risk large sums of money to get in on the ground floor of the next best thing, the story of Yo is one of the most interesting to date.
Described by Arbel in a recent interview as being “the simplest and most efficient communication tool in the world” ” Yo users apparently immediately understand the significance of receiving a single syllable message, which is always “Yo”, which according to social media observers can be interpreted as “ how are you” in modern day terminology.
For those who find the concept difficult to understand, is an interesting fact literally tens of thousands of people are getting online to download “Yo” , with the app having already overtaken Facebook’s heavily promoted new product “Snapshot” in Apple’s App Store and, at the last count, been downloaded around 10, 000 times at the Google Android app store. Yo is currently available free of charge on Android and Apple smartphones.
Judging by the $19 billion figure that Facebook could happily paid out for “WhatsApp.” the $1.2 million investment laid out by the highly secretive investor group to get an early share in Yo may be looking like the bargain of the century.
The only investor who is currently prepared to admit to having invested in Arbel’s project is Moshe Hogeg, CEO of Mobli, the New York-based social mobile photo and video-sharing website. Hogeg heads the investment fund that are backing Or Arbel, with the pair having gotten to know each other when Or Arbel was employed by Mobli in his profession as software engineer.
In fact, according to both, it was Hogeg’s idea that set the entire Yo project in motion, when he asked Arbel to put together a simple app that functioned like a summons button as a means to transmit lightweight, non-intrusive notifications- and in a single syllable, which just happened to be “ Yo”
Arbel took up the challenge, and succeeded in creating the Yo app in just eight hours ( equivalent to $150, 000 an hour.
“Yo” comes under the heading of context-based messaging or simply “ touching base ” in a single word, in what Arbel has described as “ the ultimate testament to the power of focus and simplicity.”
While none majore companies have signed up yet, Arbel claims that leading global brands could make use of Yo in a number of ways- for example the counter staff at Starbucks sending a “ Yo” to let a particular customer know that their order is ready, an airline informing those interested that a particular flight has arrived safely with a simple “ Yo” or a leading fashion chain sending a million or so customers a simultaneous “ Yo” to let them know that a special promotional campaign is about to get under way.
On a personal level, the simple act of a young person on the move being able to inform friends and family that they had arrived safely at a particular destination safely, can rapidly alleviate a lot of concern with a simple “ Yo.” Simplicity at its finest.
