Veoh: $26m Series C
San Diego based internet video-sharing site Veoh has closed its third round of venture capital financing. The $26m Series C round was led by Goldman Sachs and also included prior investors Spark Capital and Shelter Capital Partners.
The company, which was launched in 2005, has raised approximately $41m to date. Former Disney exec Michael Eisner who sits on the board of directors and is among the notable investors through his investment company, Tornante. Time Warner has also invested. Unsubstantiated speculation is putting the pre-money valuation for this round somewhere just above $60m.
Like IPTV companies Joost and Babelgum, Veoh offers a Peer to Peer video player but unlike the other two, Veoh has focused more on user-generated content and syndication than on trying to be a content destination. Users can upload videos of differing sizes or quality levels and Veoh will syndicate them to different video destinations from YouTube to MySpace. Unlike YouTube, Veoh can handle larger sized video files and higher quality content.
Veoh seems to be aiming to make itself the display destination of choice for more professional video publishers than rival user-generated content sites like YouTube. To build that reputation, Veoh has relationships with United Talent and is also home to original works from Michael Eisner’s independent studio Vuguru (which was launched by the Tornante Company in March ).
Through a recently launched Veoh Pro product, Veoh now gives publishers the opportunity to put a price on viewing video content or share in video-ad revenue. Accordingly, if I uploaded a Metue video, I could put in a pre-roll ad (plays before the video) or I’d have the freedom to choose whether charge viewers 13cents (or whatever fee I like) for the right to watch to unleash my Spielberg-esque effort on the world without restriction. In both cases, Veoh would manage the transaction and split the fees with me.
