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08/21/2007
Web 2.0 video sharing site Metacafe raised $30 million
Web 2.0 video sharing site Metacafe has raised $30 million in Series C financing led by Highland Capital Partners and DAG Ventures. Existing investors Accel Partners and Benchmark Capital also participated.
In March 2006 Metacafe has completed a second financing round, raising $15 million from Benchmark and Excel. The Israeli video entertainment firm raised $4 million from Benchmark and private investors in its first financial round.
The money raised will be used to support the company’s continued global growth, including expanding the breadth and depth of content. Earlier this month, Metacafe announced a partnership with Skype, that allow users to download videos from Metacafe site and share them with friends and family across the world.
“Metacafe is defining the next generation of online video, moving away from simple video sharing and hosting to delivering an exceptional entertainment experience for short-form content,” said Richard de Silva, Partner, Highland Capital Partners.
With the close of this round, co-founder Arik Czerniak will step away from day-to-day operations to pursue other entrepreneurial endeavors but will remain on the board and continue to advise the company on strategic matters.
Metacafe is currently having more than 25 million unique viewers each month. The Israeli startup is headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif., and has offices in Tel Aviv and New York City.
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17:45 Posted in Video Sharing | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: Web 2.0, video sharing, Metacafe, Highland Capital Partners, DAG Ventures, Accel Partners, Benchmark
08/14/2007
In-text ads provider Kontera secured $10.3 million
In-text advertising provider Kontera has secured $10.3 million in their second round of funding from Carmel Ventures with participation by Sequoia Capital and Lehman Brothers. The round of funding will be used to scale the company sales, marketing and R&D operations to meet client and market growth, according to Kontera CEO, Yoav Shaham.
"The field of In-Text Advertising is rapidly growing and enhancing the world of online advertising, which is eager for innovation. We believe that Kontera, with its unique offering and superior technology, is well-positioned to lead in this growing market,” said Rina Shainski, General Partner of Carmel Ventures.
Kontera is a provider of In-text advertising solutions, based on patent-pending contextual analysis technology that increases revenue and ROI for both web publishers and advertisers. The company, currently targeting the UK and US markets, is hoping to expand its business thanks to the strong growth of social networking and user-generated content websites.
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21:30 Posted in Online Advertising | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: In-text advertising, Kontera, Rina Shainski, Yoav Shaham, Sequoia Capital, social networking
08/07/2007
NDS acquires online video delivery company CastUp for $11.3 million
Digital pay-TV solutions provider NDS Group acquires online video delivery company CastUp Inc for purchase price of $11.3 million in cash plus additional payments to employees and senior management. Completion is expected to occur during the first financial quarter of 2008.
CastUp Inc., through its wholly owned subsidiary in Israel, provides a robust end to end solution for acquisition, processing, distributing, serving and monetizing of rich media content over IP and, in particular, video and audio over the Internet. Customers include major TV and media companies in Israel as well as the Israeli subsidiaries of large corporations like HP, Amdocs, MTV and Blockbuster.
This acquisition affords NDS access to technologies which will help its current pay TV customers expand their broadband video distribution services as well as attracting new potential customers. CastUp’s rich media technology will also help NDS to develop new enhanced services and applications for broadband enabled set-top boxes (hybrid STBs).
CastUp providing comprehensive solutions for rich media production, publishing and distribution in today's most popular formats. CastUp powers the online media experience for many of Israel’s best-known brands including Keshet, Reshet, Channel 10, Sports Channel, IBA and many more. CastUp will continue to operate as a separate unit within NDS under the leadership of the current management team.
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14:40 Posted in Digital TV | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: NDS, Digital TV, online video delivery, CastUp
08/01/2007
Mobile video sharing startup Vringo raised $12 million from Warburg Pincus
Mobile video sharing startup Vringo has closed a Series B $12 million funding round led by Warburg Pincus. The financing will fund Vringo's global expansion into mobile phone markets in the US, Europe and Asia.
"Vringo is breaking new ground in personalization, we call it Personalization 2.0,” said Vringo's Chairman, Dan Ciporin. “Whereas in the past, ringtone content was mostly professionally created audio, Vringo content will be a richer multimedia and video experience with much of it being user generated."
Vringo provides users with the ability to share video ringtones each time they make a phone call. Vringo brings ringtones to life by integrating video clips, avatars, animation, greeting cards or photos whenever users make or receive calls.
The Vringo application, now in public beta, will soon be available on a wide set of mobile handsets including devices made by Nokia, Motorola, SonyEricsson and Samsung. The company will use this investment round to formally launch its product and to expand global partnerships with leading mobile operators and digital content providers.
Last month Vringo had entered into a trial licensing agreement with Universal Music Group (UMG). Under this agreement, Vringo subscribers will be able to personalize their own video ringtones, using clips from some of the most popular videos in UMG's collection.
Vringo was co-founded in 2006 by venture capitalist Jon Medved, the current Vringo CEO, and mobile software expert David Goldfarb, the company CTO. Ciporin was CEO and chairman of Shopping.com, until it was sold to eBay.
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08:30 Posted in Mobile Content | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: Mobile video sharing, Vringo, Jon Medved, Warburg Pincus, David Goldfarb, Dan Ciporin