07 November 2007
Time browsing site tipped to be Britain’s YouTube
Named as one of Microsoft’s five UK tech companies to watch in 2008 and heralded as the UK’s answer to Skype and YouTube, Miomi.com has launched with the ambition to democratise time and history by capturing the entire world’s memories online.
Born over a late night student conversation, Miomi is a web-based reflection of time, stretching from the dawn of time into the distant future. For the first time people will be able to browse through time to find out exactly what happened on any given day, where and to whom. The site allows users to access information from the private and public sphere to get the official and unofficial take on the world’s memories.
As well as the virtual timeline to find historical content from partners such as Wikipedia, Encarta and others, people will be encouraged to upload their own personal memories and experiences – in the form of photographs, video, audio and text – which they can choose to share with the world or their own private group of friends.
How many children are being born right now?
The brainchild of three German post-graduate students, Thomas Whitfield (25) of Oxford University, Charly Toni (26) and Richard Schreiber (26) from the Technical University of Munich, the original concept for Miomi was dreamt up during a late night university conversation.
Toni explains: “It all started with a simple question - ‘how many children are being born right now?’ Then we realised that if we could capture as many of the millions of real life events that occur every day as possible – from big international news to people’s private moments such as the birth of your first child – then we’d be able to create a huge memory bank for the world. We decided then and there to build a site where people could record their memories and experiences so that they could be preserved, shared and seen in the context of world events to create a truly democratised reflection of history and time.”
The idea was then pitched in the Oxford University “Idea Idol” competition in February this year, where it was voted the winning idea by a panel of judges including Dragon’s Den stars Theo Paphitis and Peter Jones and eventual backers Dan Wagner and Shaa Wasmund of Brightstation Ventures. Instead of being handed the £5,000 winning cheque, Brightstation presented the Miomi team with a cheque for “whatever it takes” to turn the idea into a reality.
The next big thing on the internet?
Within eight months of securing funding the team have relocated to London, recruited Jonny Crowe as CEO and have a product ready for launch. During that time Miomi has already been named one of the UK’s top 25 web 2.0 start-ups (The Register) as well as being selected as one of only five British tech firms on Microsoft’s inaugural Accelerator Programme.
Claire O'Halloran of Microsoft UK, says, “It was clear to us that Miomi was one of those truly great ideas. It is the kind of idea that, whilst simple, has the ability to capture the imagination of the whole world. We believe Miomi has the potential to be the next YouTube or Skype.”
