July 2018 Gap Funding: DeFrame
A casual family outing at the Museum of Modern Arts in New York City led Victor Velasquez on the adventure of a lifetime: starting his own venture. “Some people are art-lovers, and some are not, and I thought ‘How can I use what I know best, technology, to find art more approachable, and not as intimidating?’” Velasquez continues, “I wanted to find a solution.” That is why DeFrame was developed: to help you in your future art-related endeavors.
DeFrame is a software and mobile application designed for museums and art galleries that allows them to engage more efficiently with their visitors. Velasquez registered his venture with IDEA about two years ago with the help of his co-founders, Ras and Ankur.
This past August, DeFrame was awarded Gap Funding for the very first time. “We want to use the Gap Fund to promote our mobile application, get feedback, and get a more substantial number of users.” Velasquez continues, “Museums want more meaningful data, so we need to increase our number of users to achieve that.” Another portion of the gap funding will be used to license a component of a software they are currently using.
“If IDEA was a person, it would be our other co-founder”
As a visitor, you may contact the AI-powered chatbot, named Frida, to ask any art-related questions. You can also learn about all exhibitions happening right now that could be of interest. The indoor-mapping tool is very helpful to navigating museums and locate the exhibitions you want to see. In return, the art galleries are able to collect meaningful data such as key pathways used by visitors in the museums and learn what are some frequently asked questions. The goal is to aid museums and art galleries better serve their customers. To effectively do so, they need to understand the visitor’s demographics and interests.
If you are interested in starting your own venture, please visit this page and sign up for the next New Venture Orientation.
IDEA Gap Funding is a non-equity educational grant available to ventures in the GO stage of IDEA’s process. Applicants may apply on a bi-monthly basis where their business plans are reviewed by IDEA’s student Investment Committee upon being selected to pitch plans to IDEA’s Advisory Board. Applicants may receive up to $10,000 in funding.
