Ustream.TV has taken $11.1 million Series A in a round that included Doll Capital Management and existing investor The Band of Angels.
Ustream.TV was in the first wave of live broadcast sites that launched in 2007 along with Justin.TV, BlogTV and Mogulus. Ustream.TV took $2 million in angel funding in December and appointed General Wesley Clark to the board. Rumors surface in January that the company was in takeover talks with Microsoft with a $50 million price tag.
Ustream.TV has grown from its original launch to become a broadcast hub for Presidential hopefuls, popular entertainers and musicians, technology industry gurus and business executives. The live broadcasting service has been complemented with a depth of tools that allows people like Chris Pirillo to build a video empire. Ustream.TV offers video conversion and download in .FLV, .WMV, .MP4 and .MOV, and users can syndicate videos created from live shows on video sites such as Blip.tv. According to Ustream.TV, their traffic has grown 325% over the last 6 months.
Ustream.TV said the funding would be used to accelerate product development and “meet market demand for a live online video broadcasting platform that allows people all over the world to engage in real-time.”
Wow! that’s a HUGE series A
An advisor of the company said they’re also bringing in world-class, top talent
People in Japan and China can watch people in the USA live through Ustream, just great!
its easy to use …am sure i will try again after this round to check what that”meet market demand for a live online video broadcasting platform” will change
check this out
http://bloggersmosaic.com
Speaking on behalf of the Tuesday Night Tech Show which has been hosted exclusively on UStream since our first show (43 shows ago!), we extend our congrats to Brad and the entire UStream team! Ustream has blossomed into a fantastic video streaming site, with many enhancements (including the great “co-host” feature). I hope they can enhance the infrastructure a bit to avoid any dropoffs in streaming (it happens, not to often, but it’s a pain when you are in the middle of a weekly show!). If anyone out there is considering streaming your own show (or lifecast), please start with Ustream–they are the best in the business and only getting better!
Congrats, Ustream. Really happy for you guys.
Congrats to Ustream. It’s a great company and we are proud to provide them both video encoding and syndicating features.
Brad, sounds so promising for the future of Ustream. Well done and keep the good work.
Congrats, Ustream!
Now, where are the naysayers who can’t see the ‘big picture’ in lifecasting?
another bandwidth dependent business, how wise is that?
They deserve it! They ROCK!
Ustream has shown incredible vision and built a great product. Seems like they are on track for great things.
(Full disclosure… I’m one of the angel investors from last year.)
What I *love* about what Johnny Ham, Tim Villanueva and team have done here is they have been extremely thoughtful about what differentiates “live” video from YouTube-style hosted video. USTREAM.TV has just nailed it! They have an amazingly great product, super talent, high powered founding team, and now have the capital to attract more really world-class talent.
These guys ROCK and I am so proud to be associated with them and to be able to help them in whatever small way I can.
They are hiring, so get the word out to your friends — this is one of the best startup stories out there!
Congrats to the whole ustream.tv team!!!
@gregory
Bandwidth costs are coming down faster than Monica Lewinsky.
I suspect this will likely continue because bandwidth delivery industry is hyper-competitive.
Great job John and Brad!!
You guys going to the TC event?? would love to chat….
Ustream reminds me of the Public Access Channels around the country.
It a new and very web 2.0 way of allowing content creators to get their message out.
I’m jealous I didn’t think of it first. Congrats to Brad over there..
Like Eric T., I am also a investor so obviously biased…
I can’t say how honored I am to be a part of something this special. Brad and all of the guys at Ustream have done a tremendous job. They are class acts and very business savy.
Pretty good I’d say for two West Point guys…
Go Navy Beat Army!
Congrats to uStream.TV
I tried to build something similar 8 years ago with http://Free.TV , but I got bit by the dot com bomb.
But it boggles me that they can get along with such an awful URL. I would be willing to give them the domain Free.TV if anyone wants it
As an investor and advisor, I admit to some bias. I recall John coming to my office last year with a backpack, his lap-top… and a dream. Look how far you’ve come, my friends!! This is an incredible story that only gets better. Could not be prouder of the founders, board, management team and new investors. The momentum is undeniable and accelerating.
I look forward to the continued build-out of the platform and wish everyone a heartfelt congratulations and warmest wishes.
God speed!
G. J. Dennis
PS. I must correct Sammie’s comment — the phrase should read, “GO NAVY, BEAT ARMY” as validated by Navy’s powerful streak of victories in football (no disrespect to Johnny and Brad’s service in the US Army).
Congrats to my good friend and fellow entrepreneur Johnny Ham and his team! Your friends are waiting for those extra goodies on your platform and services with the infusion of additional cash! Let the market to recognize you and the company by its innovative offerings, the market opportunities, partnership and the execution on the plan to revenue. Dude… Great job!
James Im
How do I contact you Ric?
To repeat what Erik Austin stated: we have been negotiating a new CDN contract (for flash-based on demand streaming) that is one-third the price of the one we signed 10 months ago, and one-seventh the price of the one we signed 20 months ago. Hyper-competitive is an understatement in the streaming bandwidth marketplace.
Nice, keep up the good work (-:
And what about live broadcasting concerts from famous bands, tickets from for example the Rolling Stones are sold out in a couple of minutes. So why not broadcast the concert in return for a +/- 10 dollar payment and a million or more other fans around the world can take a look at it. After the concert they can directly buy t-shirts and other stuff to further increase revenues.
What do you think, is this possible?
Matt,
Contact me at http://OpenDomain.Org
We have given many domains away - see the site
For most people in the business world, raising financing is good. It deserves a pat on the back. It’s by no means a reason to bust a nut.
Their bandwidth costs are massive. Their business model non-existent.
That doesn’t mean some dumb company won’t buy them though. Yay for Silicon Valley!
This is bandwidth intensive business model, more than technology money is the differentiation. Congrats to Brad and team in raising big Series A $$$$
What a waste of money, Ustream sucks. It’s network is boring, just look at the events and people who broadcast on it.
Ustream is where Justin.TV dumps its trash. Justin.TV is so much better.
actually ustream.tv wasnt the first live video site stickam.com was around back in feb. of 2006
here here… congrats to uStream & Brad for this awesome success. I wish the best for the team and I look forward to working with you guys in the future.
lol Justin.TV. Is that like Craigslist or something?
Wait no. Craigslist actually has a business.
Ihave been hanging around ustream since the beginning, and What draws me back is it much more classy broadcaster base. I am not a prude but this constant sexual overtones on most of these other sites leaves me as a business professional out in the cold. Ustream (who actually enforces it’s TOS) is a much cleaner site. (Stickam, which started as a japanese porn site, justin.tv, with its edgier content with lots of sexual overtones wont do it for me either) I haven’t decided yet about blog and Mogulus yet.. Way to go Ustream, keep it clean and you will get the professionals everywhere involved!!
Johnny and Brad are just the type of entrepreneurs you want.. they have drive, passion and know when to ask for help. Great guys that have really created a new medium for content.
Duncan
You overlooked stickam.com as a key player in this space.
Regards
Andy
If you only Know what I know about ustream.
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I have been with ustream from the start, and all those great Ideas that have pushed ustream to its current front have been the ideas of the talented people who do not work for ustream. Ustream has no problems stealing your creative ideas, Like a borg ship they consume you, resistance is futile. Ustream does not really care about its users, all it cares about is its numbers that it likes to inflate from time to time. They make promises on personal levels and fail to honor them. I won a lifecaster sponsorship from them for EVDO internet mobil service with sprint for one year and they made me sign a contract, then they backed out of the full years service.
I beta test also for ustream and I can tell you that the code they use comes from many open source projects. They use UNREALIRCD server for thier chat system that is free for download. Ustream is getting thier money but cant seem to pay the people that have made them what they are today.
And what company is going to pay for what can be had for free. All the talk you hear about ustream making deals with microsoft or google or god only knows who is not to be trusted, its all just hipe and foolery. They provide a FREE way to stream your video but so do many others on the web.
The way they conduct business is sleezy. Ustream is being developed by a bunch of hillbillies and is outsorced to hungarian programers that im sure are being payed beans for thier time spent. Its really sad to think that even silicon valley has to outsorce a startup company like ustream to get the job done, and you wonder why the United States is falling behind in internet technologies. Brad Hunstable and Johnny Ham are doing nothing to bring home the United States for You and I, Nothing we can be proud of that has the label “MADE IN AMERICA!” If you know ustream like I know ustream you would see the true nature of it all. Think before you make your streaming video choice. I use ustream to stream my video because I choose to bleed the beast called USTREAM.TV
Cjay is a disgruntled ustream user who whines like a baby. Ustream didn’t give him what he wanted so he likes to take hissy fits and cause problems in order to get noticed. He likes to think he created what Ustream is today but unfortunately that’s not reality.
If you end up meeting him for the first time, it won’t be long before he starts blabbing about how the powers-that-be of Ustream have done him wrong and how they don’t care about their users. He will also whine about Ustream not giving him a $25/hour minimum job.
Cjay chooses to stream on Ustream because he knows there isn’t a better choice out there. Don’t let him fool you with this “bleeding the beast” talk. So just ignore this insane man’s rambling and enjoy Ustream.
I can’t believe what I just read from Cjay, that is the most unprofessional and Sour Grape pack of lies I have ever read, I too have had the unfortunate experience of having been to Cjay’s stream and had conversations with him. This gentleman is a farce, with an ego the size of Alaska and brings absolutely nothing to the table. If he was half as smart as he thinks he is, wouldn’t he be running a successful web based business instead of sitting around in his underwear playing computer geek..