Industry Software Website www.peel.com | Area served Worldwide Founded 2009 | |
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Headquarters Mountain View, California, U.S. Key people Thiru Arunachalam (CEO)
Bala Krishnan (CPO) Founders Thiru Arunachalam, Bala Krishnan | ||
Peel is a Mountain View, California based startup that offers a smart TV remote app called Peel Smart Remote for smartphones and tablets with more than 120 million user activations. Peel is designed to allow users to turn smartphones or tablets into a smart remote control for televisions, set top boxes, digital video recorders (DVRs) and other devices. It also allows users to browse on the app for content to watch and learns viewing habits to enable the platform to deliver personalized recommendations. Users can interact with friends and other TV viewers via the app. The platform provides TV networks with a way to promote their programming to consumers, who can use the app to tune into shows, record programming or get viewing reminders.
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Peel's investors include Redpoint Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Harrison Metal and TransLink Capital, from which it has raised a combined 45 million dollars. More recently, following an initial amount of 5 million dollars, Chinese internet giant Alibaba has invested 50 million dollars in Peel as of June, 2014.
According to company co-founder Bala Krishnan, Peel is compatible with 98 percent of all consumer electronics, including 3,500 TV brands and 600 set top box types. Peel can be downloaded as an iOS or Android app. It is integrated with Samsung and HTC devices for delivery to device purchasers as a preloaded app. On Samsung devices it is called “WatchOn” or “Smart Remote.” On HTC it is called “SenseTV” or “TV.” As of August 2015 “WatchOn” and “Smart Remote” have been renamed to Peel Smart Remote. Peel completes an average of 30 billion remote control actions per month. The app works in over 200 countries and delivers program guides in 110 countries.
History
Peel was launched in 2009 by current CEO Thiru Arunachalam and co-founder Bala Krishnan, who serves as chief product officer. Peel built a user base of 25 million during its first few years of operation and then more than tripled to over 70 million in the subsequent year due to agreements with major devices manufacturers Samsung and HTC to include Peel as a preloaded app. Today, Peel has generated over 100 billion remote commands with over 120 million registered users.
Technology
The company’s patent-pending Peel-In technology allows users to tune in directly to a TV show or movie, record the show on their DVR, set up a calendar reminder or share with contacts by clicking a promotional banner.