Visual collaboration application Mural.ly has debuted some new and improved features, announcing enhancements and improvements to the tool as well as paid package options.
Based in San Francisco and with development operations in Buenos Aires, Mural.ly was founded by Mariano Suarez Battan, Pato Jutard, and Agustin Soler. An NXTP Labs alum, it received funding from Intel Capital, Alta Ventures, 500 Startups and various angel investors in 2012 and was one of six companies to pitch at Red Innova New York in November.
Mural.ly has gathered a community of 40,000 beta users for its product, many of whom have played a key role in the recently-implemented improvements to the app.
So what’s new?
The Mural.ly team has updated its content capabilities to allow the direct importation of media and files from Google Images and Google Drive. What’s more, it has also improved authoring capabilities, allowing users to design shapes in multiple colors and customize text. It has leveraged HTML5, Node.js and Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing platform to improve response and reduce load times.
“We talked with over 2,000 beta users in the creative industries: web product teams, game designers, visual designers, advertising agencies, visual thinking specialists, writers, videographers and more. Our users need something easy and flexible to use to help them stay in the flow and let their ideas grow as they did in their designer war rooms,” said Suaraz Battan, CEO of Mural.ly.
“We are pushing the limits of what can be done inside a browser,” added Jutard, Mural.ly CTO.
Along those lines, Mural.ly’s updated platform boasts more robust visual collaboration capabilities and SSL encryptions that allow for a new layer of comments to discuss changes and observations. Indoor mural owners grant access only to the parties deemed necessary, who can contribute to and edit content on murals that are otherwise private and confidential. For outdoor murals, users can show off their ideas and even embed them in websites and blogs.
Perhaps the most exciting updates have come by way of the communications options Mural.ly offers users. Teams can collaborate on-screen live and lay out project goals with accompanying ideas, sketches and photos. Moreover, users can @mention one another and also receive automatic e-mail notifications with updates and changes.
On the business end of things, Mural.ly has revealed new paid packages for premium and business accounts to accompany its free personal offer. These paid options are geared towards those working on private projects. Pricing options will become available next week.
To experience Mural.ly first-hand, visit https://beta.mural.ly/. You’ll also want to keep an eye out for the upcoming Mural.ly iPhone app, which is now in the works.
