NBC, BBC, ABC… and maybe soon RayV TV as well. Israeli RayV raised a second round of $8M to develop live 24 hour broadcasts of quality programming for the PC and TV in what they call a “Virtual TV Network”. Facebook‘s investor Accel Partners, one of Israel’s most active VC funds, financed the round. Accel has more than $4B under management worldwide, $1B of which in two European funds that also invest in Israel.
So what’s a virtual TV Network (VTN)?
According to the stealth-mode start-up, RayV developed proprietary internet protocols forming a generic grid network, basically enabling anyone to broadcast live TV to an unlimited amount of concurrent viewers at zero cost.
In other words, the first Virtual TV Network is a secure, scalable and manageable distribution vehicle of live real-time media without the need for centralized network resources. Similar to free web TV service Joost, RayV is also requires a download. You can experience a beta implementation here.
What are the benefits for the consumer?
According to RayV’s website:
“Sure, we love the big networks – after all, they show us all the live Paris Hilton we can handle – and lots of other stuff too. We just want it at high quality on our TVs and on our PCs, anywhere in the world… and more…We also want to watch live news channels from smaller, independent sources with correspondents around the world. We want channels of live performances from the newest bands at the University of Calcutta. And live coverage of rugby matches from England. And short-film channels from NYU Film School students. And coverage of local politics. And cooking channels for Vegans. And cooking channels for Carnivors.”
RayV is not the only one attempting to join MetaCafe and BlogTV on the list of successful Israeli Video startups. Several Israeli companies are working on IPTV solutions:
- TVdoTV – The next generation of web TV
- Koala Technogies -Developing innovative interactive systems
- And possibly boxee – still in super stealth mode
RayV was founded in January 2006 by Omer Luzzatti (CEO), Ron Zuckerman, and Oleg Levy. It has 15 employees and offices in both Tel Aviv and New York.
Source: Globes
I'm a former general partner at google ventures, head of Google for Entrepreneurs in Europe and founding head of Campus London, Google's first physical hub for startups.
I'm also the founder of Techbikers, a non-profit bringing together the startup ecosystem on cycling challenges in support of Room to Read. Since inception in 2012 we've built 11 schools and 50 libraries in the developing world.
