Kickstarter buys Huzza, the video streaming platform powering Kickstarter Live

Shawn Knight

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Crowdfunding specialist Kickstarter on Wednesday revealed that it has acquired Huzza, a video streaming startup founded by Justin Womersley and Nick Smit in 2015. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

In announcing the news, Kickstarter’s Bridget Best notes that Huzza was originally intended to bring musicians and their fans closer together through live video. Upon experiencing it for the first time, it really struck a chord with the Kickstarter team and they immediately saw how it could be used to help their community.

Late last year, the two joined forces to launch Kickstarter Live, a video platform that allows creators to connect directly with (potential) backers via live streaming.

Best said that in the few months since launching Kickstarter Live, hundreds of creators have invited tens of thousands of new fans to tune into their broadcast with the average viewer sticking around for more than 16 minutes. Best yet, creators that use Kickstarter Live have realized a 74 percent success rate which Kickstarter says is more than twice the site-wide average.

Apparently it was such a big hit that Kickstarter felt compelled to purchase the entire platform and open a new office in Vancouver’s historic Gastown neighborhood. They’re currently hiring engineers and designers – if you’re in the area, qualified and looking for a new gig, drop them a line.

Huzza, meanwhile, will be shutting down on March 2, 2017, and has since disabled new signups.

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