Capital Chaos

 Vobile (Santa Clara, CA) recently secured an additional $7M led by Steamboat Ventures, which is an affiliate of the Walt Disney Company.  This latest round comes on the heels of a Series A Round of a little less than $10M which included Steamboat, ATT and Facebook CFO, Gideon Yu. 

This latest transaction makes sense on a lot of levels.  First, Vobile is a provider of content management and tracking copyright protection for media and entertainment companies.  The company has created what they call “VideoDNA” which is an encryption software which monitors and tracks digital content - how it is played, recorded, stored etc.  Second, the whole copyright infringement space is really starting to pick up especially after the debacle the music industry found itself in by losing to pirates.  While video publishers arent experiencing the same downward spiral in sales, as broadband becomes more available and inexpensive, the thought is that is next.  The other big difference is that video companies (Disney, NBC, Viacom) are all much more agressive at protecting their content.  Just look at what is going on with the mounting issues YouTube is facing with their inability to stop copywritten material showing up on their site.

The company was founded by Jian Lu who knows a thing or two about video codec development.  Prior to joining Vobile, he was a principle engineer and scientist at Apple Computer.  He is also the inventor of 7 U.S. patents in video processing, compression and delivery.  Needless to say, these guys have a very strong team and the investment by Steamboat is a testament to that.

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 Steamboat Ventures (Burbank, CA) is an early/mid- stage VC that is focused on technology-focused companies involved in emerging digital media and consumer technology spaces.  The firm is an affiliate of the Walt Disny Company - think of it as their venture arm.

The firm typically targets investments of $2-15 million with a maximum of $20 million in any single company. They are also not afraid to add value to their investments by leveraging resources at The Walt Disney Company either.

Steamboat has only made about 17 investments but dont let that scare you away.  They do have a decent amount of capital under management that they are prepared to invest with companies that fit their niche strategy. As a smaller firm, they are able to move quicker with a bit less red tape than others.  It is important to know that they have gotten a bit of a reputation for being a follow on investor even though they claim to like Series A and B rounds.  That means, if you are currently working with another firm that seems interested, Steamboat may or may not be more interested.

The two guys that seem to generate the most press and are active are Dan Beldy (dan.beldy@steamboatvc.com ) and Scott Hilleboe (scott.hilleboe@steamboatvc.com ).

Contact:
3601 West Olive Avenue Suite 650
Burbank, CA 91505
Tel: (818) 566-7400