VideoEgg

[ 2006.09.27 | News Article ]

Maveron leads Series C financing round for online video specialist.
September 28, 2006

Starbucks founder Howard Schultz’s Maveron Thursday led a $12-million funding round for online video startup VideoEgg.

VideoEgg is trying to set itself apart in the competitive online video-sharing business by building partnerships with social networking and community sites. The San Francisco-based startup already powers the video for 60 partners including AOL, Bebo, Dogster, Hi5, Tagged, and Current TV.

“VideoEgg is not a destination site; they’re going to enable other sites, and the other sites already have large audiences. You’ll never get 100 percent of the market,” said Maveron Managing Partner Jonathan Fram. “But when you take a look at the Bebos and Dogsters of the world, the aggregation of these vertical market sites is going to be very powerful.”

VideoEgg has received previous funding by August Capital and First Found Capital.

Although many big social networking sites like MySpace use their own technology for video uploading and hosting, VideoEgg is betting many others will choose to work with a service like VideoEgg rather than building their own video capability.

“They’ve got a proven record, they’ve got a few social networking websites already including Bebo?one of the largest social networking sites in Europe?Current TV and AOL; and with those they say they are generating about 50 million streams a day,” said Michael Cai, an analyst with market researcher Parks Associates.