The Art Institute of Chicago to Launch a Mobile Application with Toura Later this Spring
NEW YORK -- Toura, a pioneer in multi-media mobile tour applications and creator of the Mobile App Producer, announced that it has secured $1.5 million in seed funding from a group of angel investors. Toura will use the proceeds to continue advancing its technology platform and to fuel business development, operations and marketing efforts in the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
Introduced in 2009, the Toura Mobile App Producer is a Web-based mobile content management system that allows travel and cultural attractions such as museums, galleries, zoos, parks and historic sites to easily create interactive, multimedia "tours" that consumers will be able to download to their smartphones through the various app stores such as iTunes, Android, BlackBerry and Nokia. Toura's rich user experience makes this multimedia tour the first of its kind and the company is continuing to partner with the world's most renowned museums and attractions to expand the platform.
"We founded Toura to help people experience art and culture in a whole new way that is more interactive and personal," said Toura co-founder and CEO, Aaron Radin. "Smartphones and social technologies have enormous potential to enrich our lives. We have developed the most cost-effective and efficient way for museums and tourist attractions to leverage these new technologies to connect and engage with audiences around the world."
Toura lets museums and attractions bring their experiences to a much broader audience by making them accessible from anywhere. By either using their own or a rented smartphone, users can download partner-branded "tours" and get access to multi-media content, more information and connect with others to share their experiences using social applications like Facebook and Twitter. To see an example of how Toura works, visit http://www.toura.com/overview.
Toura's business, which requires no upfront fees, encourages its partners to broadly distribute their content to mobile devices. Museums and tourist attractions create an app once, and then publish it across the most popular mobile app stores. With the flexibility of real-time publishing, Toura's customers can easily develop and adapt their tours with the most up-to-date content. Museums and tourist attractions no longer need to rely on costly software development cycles every time they want to create and update mobile applications.
Toura's technology is already being embraced by leading institutions, including the Art Institute of Chicago, the second largest art museum in the United States. "The Art Institute of Chicago is always looking for innovative ways to inspire and educate the public about our collection and exhibitions," said James Cuno, the museum's President and Director. "Toura's attractive package of technology and services makes it easy for us to bring the museum's collection to life through a series of applications on smartphones, with the first coming later this spring."
The Toura Mobile App Producer is currently being used by a growing number of leading museums in the United States and Europe and Toura expects its first series of "tour" applications to launch shortly. For more information, please visit http://www.toura.com, or follow us on Twitter @touramobile.
About Toura:
Toura is creating the leading technology platform for the efficient and cost-effective creation and launch of smartphone-based mobile guides for the travel and tourism industry and its customers around the world. Toura mobile guides entertain and educate onsite and offsite "visitors" to a broad range of travel and tour attractions, including museums, galleries, zoos, parks, historic sites, trails, stadiums, universities, and others. Toura is headquartered in New York and has operations across the U.S. and Europe.
Toura is led by two media industry veterans, CEO and co-founder, Aaron Radin and Chief Marking Officer and co-founder, Sayoko Knight Teitelbaum. Aaron and Sayoko both held leadership roles at the CBS Television Stations Digital Media Group, where they helped grow revenues tenfold during their tenure. Aaron has a proven track record in digital content, having held various roles at the Walt Disney Company, Goldpocket Interactive, Showtime and the National Basketball Association. Prior to CBS, Sayoko was responsible for partner marketing development at Travelport's consumer travel websites, including Orbitz.com, Cheap Tickets and the Away Network.
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