Carmel Ventures

LiveU Secures Second Round Investment

Created on Sunday, 01 June 2008 00:00

LiveU Secures Second Round Investment of $9 million from Carmel Ventures and Canaan Partners

New jersy, Israel, June 1^st, 2008 – LiveU Inc. (www.liveu.tv), developers of unique technologies and products for the transmission of live video over wireless networks, today announced that it has raised $9 million in a second round of investment.  Carmel Ventures led this round with the participation of the existing investors, Canaan Partners. LiveU has raised over $12 million to date, with the previous round including Canaan Partners and a group of private investors headed by Mr. Yigal Yaakobi.

Founded over a year and a half ago, LiveU has developed cutting-edge technology for transmission of live video directly from the field to the Internet and TV, by using wireless networks such as 3G cellular data, Wi-Fi, WiMAX without any need for dedicated infrastructure. These video transmissions boast high quality and low costs, which can allow any internet portals to provide live coverage to their users. LiveU’s business model is based on providing its customers with a remote video transmission service with pay-by-use pricing. The service is already being used by a premier Israeli sports portal, “ONE.CO.IL” and leading community portals in the US, and is also being piloted by a number of prominent national and international TV broadcasters.

LiveU’s CEO, Mr. Shmuel Wasserman, said that finalizing this round of investment will allow the company to rapidly expand its marketing, sales and customer service departments both in the US and worldwide while continuing to develop more advanced versions of the product, and further uses of the technology. "We are proud to have been found worthy by such prominent funds", said Wasserman. "Partners such as Carmel Ventures and Canaan Partners are a strategic advantage for us, and I’m positive that the professional assistance of Mr. Ori Bendori from Carmel and Mr. Yizhar Shai from Canaan will contribute greatly to LiveU’s success and global expansion".

"LiveU is revolutionizing the world of video broadcastingby leveraging a distinct technological advantage that enables live content to be broadcast anywhere and at anytime.” said Mr.  Ori Bendori, General Partner of Carmel Ventures. "We found LiveU to have a unique combination of an outstanding team; exceptional business model and a disruptive technology that will not only change the market of video broadcasting but will also enable the market of on-line TV".

 “We are delighted to continue our involvement in LiveU and to be part of the current investment round”, said Mr. Yizhar Shay, venture partner at Canaan Partners. “Having Carmel Ventures join as an investor in this round is a significant and strong addition and strengthens our belief in the potential of LiveU. I believe that the company’s technology and its excellent management and professional staff will aid in turning LiveU into a leading force in the worldwide video transmission services market. The enthusiastic interest that LiveU’s products have generated in international TV broadcasters and leading internet portals create an excellent opportunity for cooperation and forming partnerships that will help LiveU expand its operations in the worldwide market”, said Shay.