<p>It's been a tough year for Viddy. After seeing huge growth on the back of Facebook Open Graph, it raised a ton of money at a huge valuation only to reverse course over the following months when the social traffic it was receiving started to sputter out. What followed was a series of executive departures, layoffs, and a recapitalization as the company tried to re-focus on doing what it did best: building products.</p><p>But the remaining team hopes that what didn't kill it will ultimately make it stronger. The company, which has been newly re-branded Supernova, will continue to support the Viddy app. But it also has a lot more in store, including a pair of new apps it hopes will tap into the photo- and video-sharing zeitgeist.The Birth Of Supernova</p><p>Supernova is made up of the core engineering team that had been behind Viddy about a dozen in all. It's led by technical co-founder and new CEO JJ Aguhob along with chairman Jason Rapp, and is using the infrastructure it built to support the Viddy video-sharing app in order to explore other types of social media sharing.</p><p>Aguhob says the name was chosen as an analogy for all that Viddy has been through. A supernova is a bright star in the universe that collapses on itself but gives rise to new stars. That's an apt description for what's taken place at the company, and how it sees itself going forward.</p><p><a href="http://techcrunch.com/2013/11/04/supernova/">Keep reading...</a></p><p>Read also:</p><p><a href="http://topnews.net.nz/content/230565-viddy-rebrands-supernova-unveils-set-new-apps">Viddy rebrands as Supernova, unveils set of new apps</a> (TopNews New Zealand)</p><p>Explore: <a href="http://news.google.com/news/more?ncl=dwLZYbTqQsjcQ_M3TFOs40kV1VJcM&ned=us">9 additional articles.</a></p>