Media Browser Boxee Gets $4 Million Funding
This story was written by Tameka Kee.
Digital media browser software firm Boxee has received $4 million in its first round of funding. The round was led by Union Square Ventures and Spark Capital. The open-source browser is a desktop app which scans and brings all kinds of multimedia from a user's computer/laptop into the application, adds a pretty browsing layer to it, allows users to share the movies/music and other media they are watching, and also allows streaming of content from other sites like Hulu, CBS (NYSE: CBS) and others. It also connects to devices like AppleTV to post that content to the TV.
The new money for the New York based company will be used to negotiate deals with device manufacturers, a la what Netflix (NSDQ: NFLX) has been trying to do with its online movie service. The service is still in alpha stage, so not yet ready to launch commercially.
Spark partner Bijan Sabet wrote about the funding on his blog, touting Boxee's "social" components (users can share their favorite clips and get recommendations from friends), as well as its openness: the software is accessible to third-party developers (hence the AppleTV hack). But that open interface might be both a gift and a curse for Boxeeas the various set-top box developers (particularly Apple) may have qualms about letting unsolicited third-parties into their ecosystem. Plus there the curse of trying to scale another dedicated desktop media app, when tons are already there on any user's system.
By Tameka Kee