You are just reading an article in a series where Polish startups, tech companies and venture capital funds sum up 2021.
RealEye was founded in 2017 as an answer to the lack of alternatives to expensive ophthalmic examinations, conducted only in laboratories. The platform, www.realeye.io, enables online eye-tracking (or eye-tracking) tests using only a computer with a webcam and internet access. In 2019, the tool was recognized by the SpeedUp Group Investment Fund and the National Center for Research and Development – RealEye received a grant to develop technology to improve the accuracy of measurements.
The coming of the pandemic
When the pandemic arrived, many people started looking for solutions and tools that were completely remote. The world of eye-tracking was no different. Many researchers and neuromarketers then learned of the existence of webcam eye-tracking and, willy-nilly, gave the technology a chance. Thanks to this increased awareness of the solutions available on the market, RealEye got a chance to present its potential to a wider audience and used it. In 2021 this trend for using online tools continued.
What 2021 brought
In total, last year we collected over 100,000 minutes of eye-tracking recordings of our clients (where usually a single session is 10 minutes max). So far, many research companies (including Ipsos) and multinational corporations such as P&G have used our tool. Our platform allows them to analyze consumer behavior on a much larger scale than before – since all you need to take part in the study is a computer with a camera, you can easily survey any consumer sector in the world, and get the results within a few hours.
What’s more, we have established cooperation with over 50 universities from all over the world, including specialists in ophthalmology from Warsaw’s SWPS. Thanks to them, we had the opportunity to support such events as the LEAD-ME Summer Training School, where future neuroscientists are trained. As part of the training and demonstration of eye-tracking research, we also conducted several webinars and started a series of Coffee Break Talks, where scientists talk about their research.
Using feedback from our customers, both business and academic, we have heavily developed our tool, streamlining it and adding many features. Feedback is a major “driver” for us and we are happy to base our development on the actual needs of researchers. We have also created the possibility of integrating our software www.realeye.io with the GazePoint GP3 stationary eye-tracker, thanks to which it is possible to collect even more precise data, while maintaining the ease of creating surveys and analysing the obtained results.
Last year brought also many positive events – among the most important was RealEye’s second place in the European Future Forum Competition. Moreover, we had the pleasure to participate in the GovTech Forum for Start-up in Berlin. It is also worth mentioning that our team has been joined by an eye-tracking expert Kasia (from the already mentioned SWPS University), thanks to whom we have launched the possibility of consulting and conducting research under the supervision of the specialist.
What are our plans for this year?
First of all, further development of the platform with new functions and tools. We also want to improve the quality of our solution. Our customers confirm the fact that the quality of data obtained through a webcam allows you to conduct neuromarketing or psychological studies, we already know that we still have room to improve our technology. It is crucial for the team that the quality of the data provided is always the best among the solutions available on the market. Following these changes, we hope to expand our sales, mainly in the European and American markets.
We would also like to enable automation of eye-tracking survey creation and analysis processes for scale. Our team has noticed that some enterprise customers are implementing eye-tracking when testing new product packaging and want to automate this process. RealEye in 2022 is meeting such expectations and plans to develop an API to make this possible.
We also plan to publish at the ETRA conference, where the world’s leading eye-tracking specialists present themselves every year. Research conducted for this purpose fill us with optimism and formally prove that our tool can be successfully used for most research purposes.
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Authors: Adam Cellary, CEO and Damian Sromek, CTO Real Eye
