VentureBeat

updated

Fix8 is a Los Angeles company that animates your expressions, letting you communicate over video live via a personalized avatar. It has just raised $3 million in a first round of venture backing. See example below (if you’re reading RSS, you’ll have to go to site).

All you need is a Web cam and you can select facial and other accessories. It manipulates your voice and gives you other editing tools. Besides video chat, it also offers IM.

Several other companies let you record greetings and messages with personalized avatars, but few offer live communication. Logitech was one of the earliest players.

With Fix8, you can chat live with your avatar. Or you can create a video, and broadcast it on social sites and IM services including AOL, MSN, Skype and Yahoo.

The company is a division of Mobinex.

The funding comes from Vickers Financial Group, a Singapore-based private equity firm

Fix8 had partnered with the Shanghai Media Group to offer something called “AuditionsTV,” where audiences can submit fix8 content for insertion into live or taped programming. Fix8 says it will soon launch a mobile edition.