Cleveland, Ohio-based BoxCast is a product that was developed to feasibly deliver live high-definition (1080p) video to anyone, anywhere, on any device. With a wide variety of applications, BoxCast is helping organizations such as high school/collegiate athletics, churches, and performers (and more) build an audience.
BoxCast’s straightforward “plug-and-play” solution makes reliable live streaming accessible to anyone. Users can simply connect BoxCast to a live video feed such as a camera and ensure a live WiFi connection. BoxCast will take care of the rest on the backend. To add on, BoxCast enables live and archived viewing of events with the ability to embed the stream directly to the user’s website. In addition, BoxCast possesses add-ons such as automatic scoreboard displays and event ticking, enabling the user to set their own ticket price to earn money from their streamed events.
Notably, the company announced back in mid-December 2020 that it raised a $20M series A funding round in order to further accelerate product innovation and customer acquisition. The round was led by Updata Partners and included participation from Shure, a leading global manufacturer of audio equipment. To date, the company has raised $22M in accumulative funding.
“Our obsession is to serve organizations by making people part of the experiences they create,” said Gordon Daily, CEO & Co-Founder of BoxCast in the company’s press release. “Adding a strong operating partner such as Updata and deepening our relationship with a strategic partner such as Shure at this stage in our journey is key to helping us fulfill our purpose of making people part of the experience. The teams at Updata and Shure are a great fit for our culture, our values, and the way in which we do business.”
With an exponential increase in virtual events, BoxCast’s Gordon Daily has seen dramatic growth and is optimistic about what the future holds for his company.
“When you can’t even meet in-person…we knew that there was going to be higher usage,” Daily remarked in an interview with TechCrunch. “What caught me off-guard was the volume increase—it’s new customers, it’s existing customers, at peak times there’s a 10x increase [from pre-pandemic usage].”
BoxCast’s team are not the only ones excited about what the future might mean for their company.
“We’ve been impressed with BoxCast’s rapid growth over the last two years,” said Brian Woodland, VP of Global Business Development at Shure. “Shure has always focused on delivering extraordinary sound to bigger audiences, and we’re proud to help BoxCast continue that mission by delivering the live event experience—from schools, houses of worship, music performances, sporting events, and more—to people at home. Our investment deepens our commitment to providing the best audio experience for BoxCast’s customers.”
Carter Griffin, General Partner at Updata Partners, also commented, “The live video streaming market has grown dramatically over the last decade, and COVID-19 has accelerated adoption in recent months. BoxCast offers a unique end-to-end platform that makes live streaming easy. We’re excited to partner with Gordon and his team, and look forward to contributing to their vision of making live events accessible to all.”
BoxCast’s pricing starts at $99 a month for the “essential” streaming plan. The optional BoxCast encoder costs a one time fee of $399. Users may also opt to stream straight from an iOS device if they do not wish to purchase the encoder.
According to Sam Brenner, the company’s COO, BoxCast employed fewer than 40 people before the pandemic. Since then, the team has grown to 56, with plans to double within the next 12 months.
BoxCast was founded in 2013 by Gordon Daily. Daily graduated from Case Western Reserve University, obtaining his BS and MS in computer engineering. Prior to BoxCast’s founding, Daily spent a number of years at Rockwell Automation where he held a variety of roles ranging from software development, marketing, sales, and management positions.