Live/Mobile Streaming Firm Kyte Raises Even More Money
By Rafat Ali - Sun 09 Mar 2008 11:33 AM PST
Kyte, the much-hyped but still-to-prove-itself mobile and online live streaming firm, keeps on raising money...rather keeps on adding it to the second round, which now stands at about $21.1 million, in addition to the first round of $2.2 million. The San Francisco-based company now added the money from Steamboat Ventures and Swedish mobile operator TeliaSonera. This adds to its previous investor, also mobile heavy, with Nokia, Telefonica (NYSE: TEF), Swisscom and Holtzbrinck Ventures, the German media VC firm.
In addition to its web platform, the company has put an emphasis on broadcasting mobile video, hence the backing from the operators and Nokia (NYSE: NOK). But, with tons of competition in the space and little to differentiate itself on the technology/service side, I hope it keeps its investors close. I would doubt Nokia (which also works with competitor Qik) or any of its investor-operators would only work with one streaming/video platform.
Also, in a shift, it is emphasizing its media platform, working with bigger media companies, rather than trying to focus on user-gen video. VentureBeat: “Graf says his long-term vision focuses more on partnerships with other companies than on the user-generated content at Kyte.tv. Kyte is moving completely away from UGC, but more of it will be tied into a specific brand or partner, Graf says, such as fan videos for 50 Cent.”
Posted in: Mobile, Social Media, Video Sharing, VC+M&A, Venture Capital
Tags: steamboat ventures, kyte, teliasonera,
