Land Economy Student from Cambridge University Leads Britain’s Social Media Raw Revolution with Snapchat and Periscope

• Tom Martin, student of Real Estate Finance at Cambridge, found the raw media app, Captoria, during his studies.

• Captoria captures images with sound on a live, geo-based feed.

• The idea was originally conceived while watching London Olympic Opening Ceremony: a boy Inspired

• Beta closed after exhibition at Web Summit’s Collision Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana in May.

• Student is spending summer holiday from Cambridge in Captoria's coastal office in Essex, leading social media's change to the 'healthier' raw media craze.

23 year old Essex-boy Tom Martin is founder of Captoria, the newest face of social media’s raw revolution - where content is grittier, raw and real. In the coming months, Captoria will be under the microscope as the plucky underdog goes against the big guns of Snapchat, Periscope and Meerkat for the raw media spotlight. Martin, a student at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, studies for a degree completely unrelated to his now self-made job. When not walking the cobbled streets and climbing the curling, narrow stairwells of the Cambridge wizarding world, Martin is in his small whitewashed office in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, which is home to a small team of (this time) digital wizards.

Tom Martin is in a new generation of digital creators, leading the change in social media for the next wave of users. Gone are the days of the, rather ironically, socially awkward Silicon Valley founders, and welcome the bright replacements who are marrying a brand and simple, elegant design with great products. The Captoria philosophy is a fresh introduction to a recent movement of social media, where a reflection of reality is trumped by image building. The Raw Revolution, as it’s becoming known, encourages raw, unpolished content, where the users are fulfilling the need to share, while limiting the time peering at their screen. “If you want to enjoy life, you can’t be looking down at your phone all the time, perfecting an imaginary world” says Martin. It was only a few years ago the established social platforms were home to the raw content others are now exploiting, yet as users grew, these networks became a theatre space for well rehearsed, time-consuming acting.

The idea for Captoria came in late July 2012 while, the then 19 year old, was watching the Olympic opening ceremony unravel on both social media and on television (in true millennial style).“Why can’t a photo have more energy? When filming a live event, you end up watching life through a screen, yet while photos are instant to capture, they lack spirit.” Says Martin.

Captoria, which captures the energy from video in the time of a photograph - allowing social users time to enjoy their day for the sake of enjoyment, evaporates the shallow dimension of traditional social media, leaving in its wake the digital gem which originally made it all fun.

Collision Conference by Web Summit

In April, the Captoria team returned from New Orleans, Louisiana, where they were exhibiting at Collision, the technology conference hosted by Web Summit. Captoria completed BETA testing upon returning to London.

Leigh On Sea and The Captoria Office

Tom Martin has taken the business from his bedroom desk to a 19th Century converted cottage in Leigh-on-Sea, with its beaches which briskly revert from their golden, imported sands to the more truthful mud flats with the silhouetted cooling towers of the Isle of Grain Power Station in the distance, to the slippery cobbled streets lined with wooden sheds still trading the specialities of the 1910 tourist: cockles, muscles and of course the East End delicacy, jellied eel. The walls of the Captoria office are adorned with the art of local artists, with a large original John Lennon portrait hanging in pride of place. In the corner is a small accumulation of vinyl records. Music is big in the Captoria office, “we run a business where half of what we do is sound, you’ve got to love music to love Captoria” Martin says.

Captoria is available for free from theApp Store.

Feel free to contact Captoria on news@captoria.com or by telephone (020 8629 1033) for further comments, information or fact-checks.