WINNIPEG — It was a project on the back burner but after an American magazine found out about Lumo Play, the small Winnipeg company is wondering what to do next.
“I had messages coming in from our emails sign up, our Facebook pages, everywhere all at the same time,” said Meghan Athavale, the creator and CEO of Lumo Interactive.
Athavale started getting the messages on July 30 and quickly tried to find out why a product three years in the works was suddenly getting so much attention.
Turns out the American magazine Fatherly posted a video of how Lumo Play works to Facebook. Within a few hours millions of people had viewed it.
Lumo Play is a floor projection system that allows people to create their own games.
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“One of their people wrote a story about Lumo Play in March,” said Athavale, who said the initial article got a lot of attention. Fatherly then posted a video about how Lumo Play works on July 30.
As of Thursday it has netted 23 million views and was shared more than 375,000 times.
“No matter how much your believe in something I don’t think anyone expects this much validation at the same time,” said Athavale.
The system has been in production for three years by the company based in Winnipeg’s Exchange District. Lumo had paused development of the project after business clients took priority. Lumo also designs interactive floor and wall projection for companies such as McDonald’s.
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Right now Lumo Play is still in production but since Fatherly’s video went viral manufacturers and investors are all calling.
“The thing we were not prepared for was everyone’s stories,” Athavale said. “Nothing prepares you for hearing from 100,000 people telling you how their children with autism need this, how much their elderly parents need this, the stories we heard were heartbreaking and inspiring and the reason we poured our hearts into it.”
Athavale said the company is still trying to sort out what the next step for the project is but hopes to have it on sale to the public next year.
If you just can’t wait you can set up your own system using Lumo’s software. The company will provide it for free along with instructions however you’d have to buy your own hardware for around $400.
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