Two former Apple TV designers, Ben Keighran and Sam Roberts, have raised $46 million in in two rounds of funding led by Silicon Valley VC firms Andreessen Horowitz and Greylock Partners to launch Caffeine, a startup looking to take on Amazon-owned Twitch with a new social-broadcasting service, reports Variety.
Before starting Caffeine, Keighran worked at product design lead for Apple TV. He joined Apple in 2012, when the tech giant acquired Chomp, a search startup he co-founded and led as CEO. Roberts previously worked at Apple as a senior user experience designer and was a senior designer for Apple TV, iPhoto, Aperture, and other products.
Caffeine is a social broadcasting platform and community for gaming, entertainment, and the creative arts. It allows you to engage in real-time with broadcasters or viewers. You can even broadcast from your iPhone in real-time.
Caffeine has released its platform and tools for live-streaming games — and other content — in a beta version at caffeine.tv on the web (though it doesn’t support Safari) and via its iOS app. The company claims it’s simpler to use than Twitch, allowing users to broadcast from PC game broadcast software, browser webcams, and the Caffeine app without any configuration.
