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February Has Been a Red-Hot Month for Online Video Financings
February may be the shortest month of the year, but just less than 3 weeks in, the pace of online video financings has been the hottest since I started tracking this data over a year ago. By my count there have been at least 8 financings announced this month and I suspect I've likely missed a few (please let me know if so). This week brought financings from Clicker ($11M), YuMe ($25M) and TidalTV ($16M), adding to those announced previously: Encoding.com ($1.25M), IVT ($5.5M), Voddler ($3.5M), BrightRoll ($10M) and the big whopper of the month Ustream ($75M) though this one in two tranches.
Even with limited liquidity and choppy public markets, investors continue to make big bets across the online and mobile video ecosystems because of the massive shifts in consumer behaviors, business models and technology development. In 2009 I tracked at least 64 companies raising almost $470 million in the worst venture capital market in decades. Despite investors' enthusiasm, at least 2 big craters (Veoh - $70M and Joost - $45M) prove that even startups with blue-chip teams and promising headstarts can flop in this still nascent market.Update: Make that 9 financings in February, for a total of just under $150 millon, as Vook announced just today that it has raised a $2.5M round.What do you think? Post a comment now (no sign-in required).
Categories: Deals & Financings
Topics: BrightRoll, Clicker, Encoding.com, IVT, TidalTV, Ustream, Voddler, YuMe
