Crowd-curated video news service Newstag has appointed Mat Ekholms as CTO in a move to support the company as it develops its innovative approach to news sharing through social media.
Besides managing development teams, as a programmer Ekholm has built systems including the APTN video net and the JPEP encoding technology, used for secure and efficient encoding of box office films and digital cinema.
Ekholm says: “I’m glad to be joining Newstag at a stage where we can innovate at rapid speed. Newstag is set to handle video in a way not seen before and it’s a great challenge for me – I hope we’ll have a chance to make a real difference, not only from a digital perspective, but for the world as well.”
Newstag CEO, Henrik Eklund, has described Ekholm’s appointment as a valuable development: “We’re extremely proud and happy to have Mats join our growing team of high calibre professionals in our quest to change the media landscape. Mats’ experience of working with fast moving time-sensitive video for large corporations is of immense value to us – he’s a true innovator of video technology.”
The announcement follows an investment of $1.3m into Newstag from a group of private and institutional investors. In recent months, the company’s rapidly expanded its network of commercial and content partners as it gears up to launch its application later this Autumn.
Newstag will bring together video news stories from content producers around the world, including AP and Reuters, as well as brands and NGOs. The ‘mobile-first’ service will enable users to create personalised video newscasts on their smartphones, tagging news, brands and NGOs to create relevant and customised feeds to consume and share with their peers through social networks. Newstag’s logo – the twelve sided figure or dodecahedron – reflects the multi-faceted nature of news in the 21st century and our relationship with it in today’s complex world.
CEO and Founder, Henrik Eklund, was AP’s Director of Digital Partnerships and Distribution in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Asia. Before joining AP, Henrik was the founder and CEO of Kamera – one of the world’s leading mobile and online distributors. Prior to Kamera, Eklund founded PAN Interactive, one of Europe’s leading game publishers and distributors.