The seventeen year old Londoner hoping to become the next Mark Zuckerberg - by summarising the news
A seventeen-year-old student is set to take on Mark Zuckerberg by launching a new app that has attracted millions of pounds from backers and endorsements from Stephen Fry and Ashton Kutcher.
Nick D’Aloisio, who lives with his family in Wimbledon and still gets an allowance every month, developed the app, Summly, while revising for his mock GCSEs last year.
The app uses a complex algorithm to summarise any news story into three paragraphs.
Users can customise the news categories and link to the original article if they like the summary.
The app uses a unique interface where users swipe right and left to expand or collapse sections.
'I designed Summly because I felt that my generation wasn’t consuming news in the traditional way any more,' said Nick, who taught himself to program when he was 12.
'We've had over a million dollars in backing, from celebrities and serious tech people.'
'There is no other algorithm that does this, there are 12 months of serious R&D here.
'We’ve been able to build an industry-leading app that performs even better than human summaries in our tests.'
Nick has also managed to get the backing of some the technology world's biggest stars, and even persuaded Stephen Fry to create a promotional video with him.
He first wrote the software in 2010 and a prototype attracted an investment of around $300,000 in November 2011 from Horizons Ventures, the private technology investment company of Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing – also a backer of Facebook, Siri and Spotify.
He has taken time off from school to launch the app but hopes to return and said his friends and family have been very supportive.
Stephen Fry, has since become an investor, and said: 'The new Summly app is a sleek, beautifully designed miracle.
It goes straight into my list of top 5 of must-have apps.'
Daniel Ek, Founder of Spotify, said: 'Summly is an amazing piece of technology which easily summarises the world news into a bite-sized format.
'Perfect for people like myself who are constantly in a rush, but want to be in the know.'
He has also attracted major venture capitalists, such as Mary Meeker, who said: 'Nick and team have cleverly re-imagined how content will be consumed on mobile devices.
'With the Summly app, not only does the 'who, what, when, where and how' of content rise to the top, Summly has the potential to create an ecosystem for the best content to be distributed more broadly.'
Ian Osborne, another investor, said: 'Nick has come a long way over the past year and, in Summly, he's building a world-class company that blends unique technology and Apple-like design.
'I've no doubt that Summly can change the way we all consume news on the go.
'Nick has adapted with remarkable ease to being a chief executive; you can't quite believe he is just 17.
'As far as Nick is concerned, this is just the beginning.'
Nick D’Aloisio, who lives with his family in Wimbledon and still gets an allowance every month, developed the app, Summly, while revising for his mock GCSEs last year.
The app uses a complex algorithm to summarise any news story into three paragraphs.
Users can customise the news categories and link to the original article if they like the summary.
The app uses a unique interface where users swipe right and left to expand or collapse sections.
'I designed Summly because I felt that my generation wasn’t consuming news in the traditional way any more,' said Nick, who taught himself to program when he was 12.
'We've had over a million dollars in backing, from celebrities and serious tech people.'
'There is no other algorithm that does this, there are 12 months of serious R&D here.
'We’ve been able to build an industry-leading app that performs even better than human summaries in our tests.'
Nick has also managed to get the backing of some the technology world's biggest stars, and even persuaded Stephen Fry to create a promotional video with him.
He first wrote the software in 2010 and a prototype attracted an investment of around $300,000 in November 2011 from Horizons Ventures, the private technology investment company of Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing – also a backer of Facebook, Siri and Spotify.
He has taken time off from school to launch the app but hopes to return and said his friends and family have been very supportive.
Stephen Fry, has since become an investor, and said: 'The new Summly app is a sleek, beautifully designed miracle.
It goes straight into my list of top 5 of must-have apps.'
Daniel Ek, Founder of Spotify, said: 'Summly is an amazing piece of technology which easily summarises the world news into a bite-sized format.
'Perfect for people like myself who are constantly in a rush, but want to be in the know.'
He has also attracted major venture capitalists, such as Mary Meeker, who said: 'Nick and team have cleverly re-imagined how content will be consumed on mobile devices.
'With the Summly app, not only does the 'who, what, when, where and how' of content rise to the top, Summly has the potential to create an ecosystem for the best content to be distributed more broadly.'
Ian Osborne, another investor, said: 'Nick has come a long way over the past year and, in Summly, he's building a world-class company that blends unique technology and Apple-like design.
'I've no doubt that Summly can change the way we all consume news on the go.
'Nick has adapted with remarkable ease to being a chief executive; you can't quite believe he is just 17.
'As far as Nick is concerned, this is just the beginning.'
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