Monday, June 30, 2008

Open-source video gets .406 Ventures’ backing

By Mass High Tech Staff

Boston-based .406 Ventures has led the Series B funding of New York-based Kaltura Inc., a maker of open-source video development platform.

While executives at .406 Ventures confirmed the investment, officials would not disclose the amount, saying only that it was “significantly larger than (Kaltura’s) first round,”  which was for $2.1 million and was led by California-based Avalon Ventures. Avalon Ventures also participated in the most recent round.

As a result of the funding, .406 Ventures managing director Maria Cirino will take a seat on the company’s board of directors, and principal Greg Dracon will serve as a board observer.

Kaltura’s open source platform is aimed at allowing any website to integrate video and rich media features, including video searching, uploading, importing, editing, annotating, remixing and sharing. The company has dubbed its platform “Wiki meets YouTube.”