Startup Meme

If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to the RSS feed of Startup Meme.

Joost, an IPTV based video service, is making news on a regular basis now. The company has now announced that it has raised $45 million from the likes of Sequoia Capital (based in Silicon Valley), Index Ventures (based in London and also investors in Skype), Li Ka-shing (a Hong Kong based business tycoon), Viacom and CBS. All the investers have taken a small minority stake in the company.

The interesting fact about the investment round is that Media corps i.e Viacom and CBS have increased their interests in Joost and have become investors instead of just being content partners. Sequoia and Index on the other hand are industry reknowned and war hardened VCs. Another key fact to note is that with Sequoia in Silicon Valley, Index Ventures in London and Li Ka-shing in Hong Kong, Joost has expanded its reach to 3 continents including the strategic and difficult to enter Chinese market. So all in all the investment round has brought a lot more than just a huge pile of cash into this startup.

Joost has also announced content partnership with WarnerBros as a result of which Warner Bros will now be offering WBTV: SCI-FI FIX and WBTV: Before They Were Mega Stars, to Joost on an exclusive basis.

Joost already has already partnered with 31 major advertisers to make this growing content repository of its ad sponsored. The startup is founded by Janus Friis and Niklas Zennström who prior to Joost have successfully founded Kazaa and Skype. Our previous coverage of Joost is here.

Subscribe