Rounds (formally known as 6rounds) is a video-enabled real-time social network with collaborative browsing, chat, multi-player gaming and built-in social recommendation features that can be expanded through an open

API An application programming interface (API) is a way for two or more computer programs to communicate with each other. It is a type of software Interface (computing), interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standa ...

. Rounds was founded by Israeli entrepreneurs Dany Fishel, Ilan Leibovich and Dimitry Shestek in February 2008. Fishel is Rounds' CEO and Ilan Leibovich is the company COO. The company is based in

Tel Aviv, Israel Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

. Rounds is the first product released using the GixOO software platform, which was created in April 2008.

History

Rounds launched in July 2009. Rounds released an

for game, entertainment and collaboration-based applications in April 2010. The company changed its name from 6rounds to Rounds in August 2010. Rounds also released its application that allows users to video chat, exchange pictures, surf the internet and play games via Facebook in August. Rounds released

Android Android may refer to: Science and technology * Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system ** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...

and

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...

applications in December 2012. The company discontinued the "Meet New People" feature of its platform in February 2013. Rounds retired the feature out of concerns about security and privacy of its users, most of whom are under the age of 25. In December 2013, company also announced its integration with Vidyo's technology that allows video chat capabilities to Google Hangouts. In January 2017, Rounds has been acquired by the Canadian messaging service,

Kik Messenger Kik Messenger, commonly called Kik, is a freeware instant messaging mobile app from the Canada, Canadian company Kik Interactive, available on iOS and Android (operating system), Android operating systems. The application uses a smartphone's int ...

, for a reported $60-$80 million. Kik will acquire all 35 employees of Rounds and turn its Tel Aviv office into a Kik product and engineering center, which will be its first international base.

Features and uses

Rounds users create their own (embeddable) personal slide show to inform other users about themselves. Users connect through messaging and video chats (referred to as rounds). They initiate rounds either by inviting a specific person or by joining a specified room based on activity, game or topic. Once users join a specified round they are systematically matched with another user interested in the same type of round. As of 2013, Rounds requires a pre-existing Facebook friendship before users can begin video chatting one another. While chatting, users can share in various activities, including watching videos on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

, co-browsing on

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

, and playing games such as

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

, backgammon, checkers, and truth or dare.

External features

The Rounds platform offers an open API which allows third party integrations, from small scaled modifications to

white-label A white label record is a vinyl record with white labels attached. There are several variations each with a different purpose. Variations include test pressings, white label promos, and plain white labels. Test pressings Test pressings, usua ...

solutions. Rounds was one of the first Google Wave extensions to be featured and the only video chat to be launched at the Google Wave beta launch.

References

{{Reflist, 2 Chat websites VoIP software Internet properties established in 2009 Israeli social networking websites