Sources inform "Globes" that Boxee TV Ltd. recently raised $4 million from two VC funds - Union Square Ventures and Spark Capital. Union Square partner Fred Wilson and Spark Capital partner Bijan Sabet will now join the Boxee board of directors.
Boxee had previously raised about an estimated $2 million from private investors. The present round of capital raised will assist Boxee in managing contacts with major content producers such as Hulu, CBS, Amazon, and BBC, as well as creating connections with material producers and persuading them to purchase the software that the company is developing.
Boxee was established in 2007 by CEO Avner Ronen, who also set up the immediate messaging company Odigo-Messenger that was sold to Comverse Technology for about $17 million, as well as Tom Sella, Idan Cohen, who serves as product manager, Gidon Coussin, VP Business Development and Roy Vulcan.
The company develops media center software based on an open code, with the aim, according to Cohen, of making TV become more relevant. Cohen explained, "The software enables users to control media programs stored in the PC, or the Internet domain and bring them to the TV. The hope is to improve the way people consume media and present them with a new consumer experience."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 18, 2008
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