Steff Aquarone
Steffan Luke Aquarone is a UK entrepreneur in the film and technology sectors. His projects involve collaboration between large groups of people with a common interest[1] and are often crowd-source financed,[2] the most notable example being feature-film Tortoise in Love which was made by a village in Oxfordshire.[3]
Education
Aquarone was educated at home as a member of Education Otherwise until the age of 12, before attending Norwich School (independent_school). He then read Politics and International Relations at the University of Warwick, graduating with a BA in 2006.
Business
In 2004, Aquarone co-founded media business Ephex Media Limited with two fellow students at the University of Warwick. Ephex Media received investment from the Advantage Early Growth Fund in 2007[4] in order to acquire regional post-production facility Oakslade Studios.[5] The company made and edited corporate films for brands including Land Rover, Vodafone, Massey Ferguson and American Express. The business was placed into administration in 2008.[6]
Aquarone co-owns feature film production company Immense Productions with author Guy Browning,[7] whose first feature Tortoise in Love on which Aquarone was producer[8] released in the UK in 2012.[9]
In 2011, Aquarone co-founded peer-to-peer[10] mobile payments platform Droplet[11] which allows users to load funds to an app on their mobile phones and send payments to other people or merchants.[12]
In 2013, Droplet was named among the 'Top 25 UK Startups' by influential technology blog Mashable.[13]
Writing
Aquarone writes on digital marketing topics including online video. In 2012 he wrote "Online Video: A Best Practice Guide" for digital publishers Econsultancy.[14]
Personal life
Aquarone lives in Norwich with his wife, and is a practicing Quaker, involved in local politics with the Liberal Democrat party.
References
- ^ Roxborough, Scott "How an English Village Bankrolled 'A Tortoise in Love'", The Hollywood Reporter, 12 May 2011. Retrieved on 9 June 2012.
- ^ MIPDoc 2011, "Crowdsourcing: the frontier of documentary and funding", Cannes, 3 April 2011. Retrieved on 9 June 2012.
- ^ "British comedy funded by village residents to show at Cannes", The Daily Telegraph 13 May 2011. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
- ^ "Think Enterprise Case Studies", 15 September 2010. Retrieved on 9 June 2012.
- ^ "4RFV", 2 October 2007. Retrieved on 9 June 2012.
- ^ [1], The London Gazette, 22 July 2008. Retrieved on 9 June 2012.
- ^ "Immense get a funny idea about business" The Birmingham Post 21 July 2008. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
- ^ IMDB [2] "IMDB". Retrieved on 9 June 2012.
- ^ British Board of Film Classification "Tortoise in Love". Retrieved on 9 June 2012.
- ^ Cockburn, Russ "How traditional banking is failing people technologically" 4 April 2012. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
- ^ Crunchbase "Droplet". Retrieved 9 June 2012.
- ^ Birmingham Post "Birmingham entrepreneurs launch payment app for smartphones", The Birmingham Post 31 March 2012. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
- ^ [3] "25 Top UK Startups." Retrieved 9 May 2014.
- ^ "Online Video Best Practice Guide", January 2012. Retrieved 9 June 2012.