New Executives Join to Meet International Demand as Realeyes Adds New Customers, Products and Applications
Realeyes, announces today the hiring of key new executives across global markets including North America and APAC. The company also released new emotion AI applications and expanded its client portfolio in the past year as demand has accelerated for scalable content intelligence.
Kyoko Tanaka has joined Realeyes as the head of the company’s Japan office, following the recent appointments of Max Kalehoff as VP of Marketing and Joe Zahilta as Chief Revenue Officer. Realeyes also raised $12.4 million in funding during the past year, led by notable international investors Draper Esprit, and NTT DOCOMO Ventures, Inc., the VC arm of NTT Group, Japan's leading mobile operator.
Realeyes’ growth comes as the company continues to update its content intelligence platform, adding new features that enable marketers to optimize their entire portfolio of video content according to attention and emotion impact. Realeyes’ technology enables any mobile or front-facing camera to measure the emotions and attention levels of viewers as they watch content. Realeyes works with brands, agencies and media companies to quantify and optimise the effectiveness of their creative and inform their media buying strategies.
“The technology behind facial coding and emotion detection has arrived, and the market is primed for a company like Realeyes to revolutionize the world of video content experiences,” Tanaka said. “Not only does Realeyes allow marketers to measure the emotional impact of their video, we’re planning future products and technologies to understand the quality of attention and user experience within live in-context experiences like mobile, streaming and gaming applications.”
A 20-year branding and business development expert, Kyoko Tanaka joins Realeyes after managing branding and business development strategies for major technology companies in both Japan and the United States, including Renesas Electronics America and Marubeni Corporation. As head of Japanese operations for Realeyes, Tanaka is responsible for scaling the company’s East Asia operations in advance of product developments planned for that market.
Realeyes facial coding technology was recently updated to include more sensitive emotional signals to analyze viewers’ reactions as they watch video content. Widely acknowledged as among the most accurate emotion AI platforms available, Realeyes’ technology draws on 580 million emotion AI labels across 25 thousand videos in the company’s research database. In operation for over 12 years and holding 11 U.S. patents with 30 pending, Realeyes provides emotion AI products and services to over 150 customers. The company’s recent expansion brings its total headcount to 75 employees across four major global offices, with more than half of its staff dedicated to R&D.
“Kyoko is joining Realeyes at an exciting time for the company as we prepare to launch new products and capabilities in 2020, including live streaming and gaming applications,” said Mihkel Jäätma, CEO of Realeyes. “The explosion of digital content in recent years combined with shifting consumer expectations means that the only content that resonates is that which provides true emotional impact. Realeyes has been pioneering attention measurement at scale, and we’re helping marketers harness content intelligence to create remarkable experiences that nurture stronger customer relationships.”
About Realeyes
Using front-facing cameras and the latest in computer vision and machine learning technologies, Realeyes measures how people feel as they watch video content online, enabling brands, agencies and media companies to inform and optimize their content as well as target their videos at the right audiences. Realeyes’ technology applies facial coding to predictive, big-data analytics, driving bottom-line business outcomes for brands and publishers.
Founded in 2007, Realeyes has offices in New York, London, Tokyo, and Budapest. Customers include brands such as Mars Inc, AT&T, Hershey’s and Coca-Cola, agencies Ipsos, MarketCast and Publicis, and media companies such as Warner Media and Teads.