Danny Robinson’s Perch Hits App Store After Raising $1 Million

November 22, 2012

Vancouver’s Danny Robinson and his six-person team has been quietly working on Perch for 12 months and this morning they announced that their iOS app is now available in the App Store.

Robinson is well-known in the Vancouver startup community after founding Strutta, launching Vancouver’s “original” accelerator Bootup Labs, and then temporarily taking over the helm of BCIC.

Techvibes has also learned that Perch has raised $1 millon in seed capital from a group of investors that includes Barracuda Network‘s Michael Perone and Zach Levow, Clarity’s Dan Martell, and Mike Edwards’ Initio Group.

Perch claims to be the first hands-free video communication app designed to bring you closer to your family regardless of where you are.

Families can use Perch to stay connected using wall mounted iOS devices in the home, Danny says. Facial recognition technology automatically knows when you have something to say and records it. Family members who are not at home receive those messages as video alerts.

To send a video message, simply walk up to a mounted Perch device (iPhone, iPod, iPad) and talk. Anyone who is in your Perch family will be notified when a video message has been recorded.

If you choose to enable motion detection, you’ll also receive a notification when something interesting happens in your home, which you can then share with your family. It’s an intuitive, hands-free method of video communication for the family, the company says.

“As a busy Dad, I wanted something that helped me feel connected to my family when I wasn’t at home,” Danny told Techvibes. “Perch provides that emotional connection using rich video. Both my kids have SMS but prefer to use Perch to check in, say hello and share stories with me throughout the day, as if I am right in front of them.”

Previously known as RedHand, Perch was co-founded in May 2012 by Danny Robinson, Michael Perone, Zach Levow, and Steve McKenzie. Perch is currently only available on iOS but they’re hiring an Android Developer, so stay tuned.