On April 18, 2017, each attendee at Zuckerberg’s annual Facebook Developer Conference—4,400 people in all—received a complimentary Giroptic iO 360-degree camera. It was a huge boost for the Hauts-de-France company, and a first for a start-up at the event. Giroptic iO is an iPhone/iPad accessory that lets users produce 360-degree photos and video and share them live. Unlike some of its competitors, which transfer images to smartphones over a WiFi network, the Giroptic iO connects directly to the phone and delivers images instantaneously.
About Giroptic
Founded in 2008, Giroptic specializes in 360-degree image capture and virtual reality. It is based at EuraTechnologies in Lille, and in 2016 opened a San Francisco office to track markets more closely. Sources: Les Echos, Cci Hauts-de-France, Giroptic