Herman DeBoard, a decorated veteran of the US Air Force, created Huvr in 2019. His spark of inspiration came while watching Jake Sully, a paralyzed former Marine, use a pod to launch into another world during the original “Avatar.”
“I’m a pretty dangerous coder, so I put together a Minimum Viable Product with one of my friends,” DeBoard says. “The app we built is basically like Uber, but instead of connecting riders to drivers, we connect virtual travelers to human walkers around the world. You can log onto the app, pick the face of one of our walkers on the map, read their bio, hire them, and virtually teleport to the site. You see what they see and hear what they hear. You’re exploring the world in real-time, and you can save your videos.”
Huvr enables people to teleport to places around the world instantly. For example, the Huvr Africa program offers US high school and college students real-time video access to various locations across Africa, revealing the continent’s culture in an unprecedented way.
Today, Huvr is up and running as a destination in over 50 countries and is available in all countries for travelers. The limitless applications for DeBoard’s real-time, interactive video streaming platform quickly became apparent. A wide range of brands, including higher education, healthcare, recruiting, sports and entertainment, real estate, and government, are cued up to connect virtually with their audience through events, tours, and tailored experiences. Public or private events can host up to 15,000 virtual participants per video device and always include a video to remember the occasion.
