Web-conferencing app Zoom has recently announced that it’s making multiple sizeable investments into various apps and developers. All of these investments have gone to developers that make apps for Zoom’s own platform, as Zoom looks to expand its service.
It’s no secret that Zoom has exploded in relevance since the COVID-19 pandemic began. “Zoom” has essentially replaced the word “Skype” when it comes to referring to a video conferencing platform. And even as the pandemic hopefully winds down, Zoom is making efforts to maintain their momentum.
The exact intricacies of the investments (who’s getting however much money) is still under wraps. However, if any of these investments bear fruit, which is highly likely, you can be sure that they’ll lead to very handy additions to Zoom’s platform.
What Did Zoom Invest in?
While the specifics of the investments aren’t fully public just yet, Zoom has given out some general information regarding their investments.
Zoom came to play with a massive $100 million, looking to divide this up between various developers that seemingly had potential to improve Zoom’s platform. They made more than a dozen investments, with investments ranging from $250,000 to $2.5 million.
Ross Mayfield, product lead for Zoom Apps and integrations, had this to say:
“We’re in the process of creating this ecosystem. We felt it important, particularly to focus on the seed stage and A stage of partnering with entrepreneurs to create great things on this platform. And I think what you see in the first batch of more than a dozen investments is representative of something that’s going to be a significant ongoing undertaking.”
While Zoom has a lot of money to throw around, no business would haphazardly make 7-figure investments without some belief in the product. To see Zoom have this much faith in this many developers is a sign that they believe that there is still room for growth within the web-conferencing realm.
What Does Zoom Look to Gain from Investing?
Zoom doesn’t seem to be expecting any money from these developers directly, but rather are placing their bets on the success of these tools and products to make their own platform more appealing.
One example is Fathom, which records the meeting and allows you to mark moments in the meetings with tabs. For example, if three presentations were happening throughout a single meeting, you could partition the meeting into three chunks using tabs, so that people could easily find where each presentation began.
With Zoom investing in multiple apps like this, it’s easy to see how their platform is poised to become far more fleshed out and useful for businesses as the time goes on.
The Future of Web Conferencing
As working from home becomes more and more normal, businesses will need to rely on web conferencing apps to conduct meetings and appointments. Zoom is looking to stay on top of the web conferencing heap, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t a bunch of platforms looking to take the crown.
In order to keep up with Zoom’s massive investments, we might be seeing developments from other major web conferencing competitors in order to keep up. In the mean time, have a look at our favourite web conferencing platforms, and see if Zoom really is the best choice for you.
| Price from The lowest starting price for a paid plan. The lowest price available for your business will depend on your needs. | Best for | Free plan | Breakout Rooms | Whiteboard | Audio-Conferencing | Pros | Cons | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FEATURED DEAL  | TOP RATED  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | |
| Zoho Meeting | GoTo Meeting | Zoom | RingCentral | Webex | Google Meet | Microsoft Teams | Lifesize | BlueJeans | |
| Value | Sound and video quality | Beginners | Security | Larger businesses | Google Workspace users | Microsoft 365 users | Users that need hardware | Users that need customer support | |
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| | | | | | | | | | |
| Yes (paid plan) – VoIP, Phone & Toll-Free | Yes – VoIP, Phone & Toll-Free | Yes – Add-on audio plan allows you to add Call Out, global Toll-free & local dial-in for premium countries | Yes – Companies get a single audio conferencing bridge dial-in phone number for easy universal access. | Yes – Audio-only calls can be created when a host generates an Audio pin | Yes – Just call the number listed on the meeting invite, or join via the link and turn off your camera | Yes – but only in selected countries, and each user dialing into meetings will need an audio-conferencing license. | Yes – in a meeting contact card, users can tap the phone number under Details to call using their default phone or voice app | Yes – Easy access to audio conferencing is provided via a traditional PSTN number | |
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