Toura helps museums build their mobile apps

Toura, a company that wants to help cultural institutions offer virtual tours in the form of mobile applications, just announced that it has raised $1.5 million in seed funding from unidentified angel investors.
The New York company says that using its web-based tools, an attraction like a museum or a zoo could create interactive multimedia tours that can then be distributed on iPhone, Android, Nokia, and BlackBerry devices. These tours are a form of marketing for Toura’s partners, but they can also be seen as educational tools, allowing a museum to share its art collection with a broader audience, for example.
There are no upfront fees, Toura says. Presumably it shares the revenue if the application drives ticket sales or other purchases.
Though there are plenty of mobile app creation startups out there, Toura’s focus appears to be unique. None of its applications are live yet, so we can’t judge the results, but the company did announce its first partner, the Art Institute of Chicago.
Companies: Art Institute of Chicago, Toura