Video start-up seesmic secures $6m in funding

21st June 2008 12:28 pm

Seesmic, the online video conversation platform, today announced it has received $6 million in series B financing co-led by Omidyar Network, the philanthropic investment firm of eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, and leading pan-European venture capital firm Wellington Partners. The new round brings the total funding amount raised by Seesmic to $12 million.

Seesmic enables users to share experiences on blogs, social networks and with each other by uploading videos straight from their webcam or mobile device. The company will use the investment to further develop its video platform and to start its global rollout. Seesmic initiatives will focus on its platform strategy with a robust API already powering video
conversations on 1500 sites and blogs as well as new partnerships with leading consumer brands and media and entertainment companies.

Loic Le Meur, Seesmic founder and CEO, commented: “On Seesmic, you engage in real interactions with real people, which I believe is the future of online conversation. The new financing round gives us the chance to strengthen our lead in this very exciting new business segment.”

Formerly the Executive VP Europe of Six Apart and founder of several web companies in Europe as well as the largest European web conference LeWeb, Loic Le Meur already has had considerable experience with online social networks. “Until now, conversation has been restricted to text,” said Le Meur.

“Seesmic is the first platform to bring global conversation alive where people of all ages, races, socioeconomic backgrounds and countries can engage with one another in a dynamic, new environment.”

Pierre Omidyar will join the Seesmic board as an observer. Said Omidyar: “Seesmic provides a powerful demonstration of technology as a driver of positive impact. Through video conversation, Seesmic enables people to connect and engage with one another across the boundaries of geography and time, opening up entirely new possibilities for social connection.”

Wellington Partners co-led the Series B funding round. Wellington General Partner Eric Archambeau, who is joining Seesmic’s board of directors, explains: “We invest in European entrepreneurs with global ambition, and that is exactly what Loic stands for. We are very confident that what Loic is building with Seesmic is ushering an entire new way of communication on the Web and over time millions of people will include video for their online conversations.”

The Series A financing round took place in February 2008 and was led by Atomico, an investment group founded by Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis (co-founders of Skype and Joost).

It also included Michael Arrington, TechCrunch founder; Steve Case, founder and former CEO and Chairman of America Online; Jeff Clavier, SoftTech VC Managing Partner; Ron Conway, early Google investor; Steve Garfield, pioneering video blogger; Dan Gillmor, Director of the Knight Center for Digital Media Entrepreneurship at Arizona State University; Reid Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn; Michael Parekh, former Goldman Sachs Managing Director; Mark Pincus, founder of Zynga; Ariel Poler, founder IPRO and Topica; Jeff Pulver, founder of Pulver.com; and Martin Varsavsky, founder and CEO of FON.

Would you like to know more about online advertising? If so, contact Hit Search, SEMPO accredited Search Engine Optimisation and Pay Per Click specialists, on 0845 643 9289. Remember, its a big world out there, make sure you become visible.

Subscribe To Our RSS Feed!

Other Related Stories That May Be Of Interest:

Search Categories

Search Engine Optimisation

Yahoo Search Marketing

Hit Search Company Address: Hit Search Limited, Liverpool Innovation Park, Liverpool Digital, Baird House, Liverpool, Merseyside, L7 9NG.
Our Telephone Number For Search Engine Optimisation, Search Marketing, Pay Per Click And All Other Enquires is 0845 643 9289.