TV Streamer Gets $10.1 Million

NEW YORK: Online professional content provider blip.tv today announced closing a $10.1 million, third funding round. Canaan Partners led the round with existing Boston-based investor Bain Capital Ventures contributing. Blip.tv will use the funding to expand the independently produced shows it distributes on the Web, its content services team and its sales force.

“Blip.tv turns five this year, and I couldn’t be happier with our success to date and our growth plans for the future,” said Mike Hudack, blip.tv CEO and co-founder. “We started in 2005 with a simple mission: To change the entertainment industry by making independent show production sustainable and scalable. We’re moving on to the next phase of executing against that mission, and with help from both Canaan Partners and Bain Capital Ventures I’m confident that we’ll be successful. We’re making more shows sustainable every single day, and now we’re going to accelerate that change even faster..”

The company states that more than “44,000 independent producers visit the blip.tv show creator dashboard every day to review statistics, engage with their communities of viewers, manage their shows, and release new episodes.” The content attracts more than 85 million video views a month, according to Blip; 85 percent are paired with targeted, direct-sold advertising from the likes of Pepsi, Chevrolet, Samsung, AT&T, Scion and Starbucks.

The company previously received a total of $5 million in venture cap from Bain; the founders of Skype and Paypal and several others.
-- Deborah D. McAdams