This is possibly the biggest mobile content funding to date: mobile video aggregator and distributor MobiTV has received a whopping $70 million in third round funding. The funding is led by Oak Investment Partners, and will be used for its expansion across various markets and different areas beyond just mobile: online, Wi-Fi, Wimax etc. I am presuming a chunk of money will also be used to start mobile streaming TV services, whichever standard it chooses, but the company is not saying much about that now (It is part of the Mobile DTV alliance, which back DVB-H).
It has about a million subscribers now, and has expanded across Europe and into Asia as well. In terms of product line, it has gone into mobile radio recently.
In previous two rounds, it has raised aabout $18 million, from Menlo Ventures, Redpoint Ventures and others.
I spoke briefly to Bruce Gilpin, CSO and interim CFO, about the funding and other plans, and couldn’t get much info out of him. But he did mention that the money is for expansion, though they’re not disclosing how the money will be invested in specific areas. Safe to say that mobile (or mobility) will still be the main focus, even though the company has expanded into online through its deal with AT&T on Wi-Fi, and with Microsoft for mobile and online. On mobile TV standards, it hasn’t decided on a standard to back, and is looking at all standards including DVB-H and MediaFlo. Money will also be used to ramp up its mobile advertising efforts, developing technologies and services around it.
The company is also closely looking at expanding services on the still-nascent WiMax network, Gilpin mentioned.
In terms of the future of the company, exit is probably a year and a half or so away, and I doubt it would go the IPO route.
For everything about MobiTV, go to our dedicated page here.
Related:
-- Interview: Paul Scanlan, COO, MobiTV
-- Some MobiTV Numbers & Ad Rates
-- MobiTV Crosses 1 Million Subscriber Mark; Goes Online With Microsoft