YouTube Co-Founder Steve Chen Launches New Live Video Platform, Nom, Allowing You To Direct, Produce And Host Your Own Food Show
SAN FRANCISCO(11 Mar 2016)
Steve Chen, Co-Founder of YouTube, and Vijay Karunamurthy, former engineering lead for YouTube, are launching Nom, a new, live, interactive video platform on Wednesday, March 9. Chen will be demonstrating the product at a featured talk at this year's SXSW on Monday, March 14 from 9:30-10:30 am.
With Nom, you'll be able to direct, produce and host your own food show. "Nom is a place for food lovers," said Chen, Co-Founder and CTO of Nom. "If you've ever snapped a picture of your dinner, Nom is for you. If you have a food blog and want to connect with a bigger audience, Nom is for you. If a restaurant kitchen is your office, Nom is for you." Anyone can join Nom and instantaneously shoot a live show from their phone or desktop.
Viewers can learn from their favorite chefs, brewmasters, grillmasters, baristas or bloggers, and interact directly with them as they stream live. Through Nom channels, viewers can ask questions, explore answers, and discover together.
"Collaboration is key for us at Nom," said Vijay Karunamurthy, Co-Founder and CEO of Nom. "We worked with an incredible group of chefs, makers, and creators to build the site and app they would want to reach an audience live. Now any creative team can produce their own show. We're seeing people use Nom for coffee tastings, cooking demos, and live coverage of pop-up experiences."
Chefs and personalities launching channels on Nom include 3-star Michelin chef Corey Lee and Master Sommelier Yoon Ha of Benu inSan Francisco, Pastry Chef Joanne Chang, Tim Hollingsworth of Otium in downtown Los Angeles, Hubert Keller in Las Vegas, and Michael Tusk of Quince in San Francisco.
Nom will also be a key partner for live culinary events, and the James Beard Foundation will be live broadcasting the announcement of the 2016 James Beard Award Nominees on their Nom channel on Tuesday, March 15 at 9am PDT / 12pm EDT.
About Nom
Nom allows anyone to direct, produce, and host their own food show, with a toolset to create the most interesting show possible, including:
- A rich media tray that allows recorded video, photos or GIFs to be shared in a live broadcast
- The ability to interact and collaborate directly with an audience through a no-delay 2-way chat, including photos and video questions
- A tool to use multiple cameras during a broadcast (for example, having one camera on a host and another in a close-up of technique)
Nom will be live at https://nom.com and available in the Apple App Store on Wednesday, March 9.
About the Team
Nom is currently a team of under a dozen people, based in San Francisco and Palo Alto. Key members of the founding team include:
Steve Chen, Nom Co-Founder and CTO. Steve Chen co-founded YouTube in 2005, alongside Chad Hurley, and led engineering for the company during and after the acquisition by Google. YouTube is the third-most-trafficked website globally, with over 800 million unique users per month. YouTube was named "Person of the Year" by TIME Magazine in 2006, and was awarded a Peabody in 2008. Since YouTube, Chen has been heavily involved in startups and incubators, forming AVOS (which launched MixBit, AVOS China, and Delicious) and serving as an Entrepreneur In Residence with Google Ventures. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Vijay Karunamurthy, Nom Co-Founder and CEO. Vijay Karunamurthy started Nom with Steve Chen around their mutual love of cooking, community, and the potential of live video. VJ led the engineering team at YouTube responsible for viewing, uploading and engaging with videos. VJ also cofounded AVOS with Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, and founded startups in the financial space. He holds degrees from Stanford, UC Berkeley, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Funding
Nom received $4.7M in Series A funding, including support from Blue Run Ventures, WI Harper Group, Khosla Ventures, SV Angel, and personal investments from YouTube sensation PSY, actor Jared Leto, 3-Star Michelin chef Corey Lee, and American restaurateur Ming Tsai.