Jigsee gets Series-A funding from Indian Angel Network
To expand reach of mobile video in India
Jigsee Inc., a leading provider of adaptive video streaming technology for wireless devices in developing countries, today announced that it has received Series A funding from the Indian Angel Network, India's largest and only national network of business angels investing in start-ups.
With its development centre situated in Ottawa, Jigsee has developed and successfully tested its adaptive video streaming technology, in Bangladesh and India. The technology delivers continuous video streams in low-bandwidth environments (with data rates as low as 50 Kbps). Combined with the company’s Smart Client technology – which makes video streaming possible on phones with basic features, Jigsee has overcome hurdles which have prevented the uptake of mobile TV services in most emerging markets.
Jigsee will use the capital raised from Indian Angel Network to expand its India presence and to fuel the deployment of its mobile application in India and neighbouring countries. Jigsee version 1.1 which is currently available for download via appstores such as GetJar and OVI, makes video playlists accessible to Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition (j2me) devices from manufacturers like Nokia, Sony Ericsson, and Micromax among others.
The upcoming release of version 2.0 in April 2011 will extend support to Android devices. This version will also include premium content from top tier broadcasters.
“Video as a medium has the power to entertain, inform and connect the world. Jigsee’s mission is to make video content accessible to those who have historically faced economic and technological barriers. In the Indian Angel Network we’ve found partners whose market expertise will assist our strategy and execution in fulfilling this mission”, said Ray Newal, CEO and co-founder, Jigsee Inc.
Jigsee co-founders, Ray Newal and Areef Reza form an experienced team. Ray, an Internet industry veteran was amongst the first employees of DoubleClick which played a pivotal role in the formation of the internet advertising industry. Prior to starting Jigsee, Ray headed content and business development at Yahoo Canada.
Areef Reza, the CTO of Jigsee, leads the technology development effort. Areef gained valuable experience in this space while working with Nortel and Research in Motion.
Indian Angel Network investor Rehan yar Khan who will represent the Network on Jigsee’s Board of Directors said,“Jigsee's proprietary technology and platform offers the widest distribution of uninterrupted mobile video streaming across 2.5G, 3G, LTE and Wi-Fi environments enabling content providers and advertisers to reach the widest possible audience in India.
“This space is very exciting, as we expect, Mobile Streaming Video to match the viewership of DTH, in five years,” adds Rehan yar Khan.
About Jigsee Inc.
Jigsee (www.jigsee.com) makes video content accessible to the widest audience of mobile subscribers in the world. To make this possible, the company employs proprietary streaming technology which is specifically designed to overcome technical challenges such as network congestion, low-bandwidth availability, and feature phone compatibility – challenges which are present in most emerging markets.
About Indian Angel Network
The Indian Angel Network is India's largest and only national network of business angels investing in start-ups, early stage ventures and having an incubator program with an investor base of nearly 140 angels -- both individuals and institutions.
As a part of this Network built By Entrepreneurs and For Entrepreneurs, investees can gain access to the vast business network of Indian Angel Network’s influential members. Most investee companies have gained tremendous value as the strategic direction, operational guidance and financial investment from Indian Angel Network provides critical input for creating a large, valuable company.
Since inception, Indian Angel Network has invested in 23 companies, including 4 located overseas. The Network has made 5 positive exits or partial exits.
For more details please visit, www.indianangelnetwork.com
Indian Angel Network: A Backgrounder
Indian Angel Network (IAN), founded in 2006 by successful entrepreneurs like Saurabh Srivastava, Mohit Goyal, Pradeep Gupta, Raman Roy, Harish Mehta, Jerry Rao, Pramod Bhasin, Arvind Singhal, Hemant Kanakia, Alok Mittal among others, nurtures the entrepreneurial ecosystem by offering Angel funding to budding entrepreneurs.
IAN members are who’s who of Indian entrepreneurs and dynamic CEOs who represent thought leadership across multiple sectors.
Besides looking at investment opportunities for wealth creation, the IAN members are keen to mentor entrepreneurs, share their experience and wisdom with young men and women with innovative, scalable and differentiated ideas/propositions.
The entire process of dealing with requests for funding new ideas to investing, nurturing and exiting (early Stage Investing) has been formalised, tried and tested over the last four years.
IAN now has a membership of over 140 members—both individuals and institutions, with about one-sixth of them located outside India. With investible funds of tens of millions of dollars, IAN members look to fund up to $1 million with an average of about $400-$600K and expect to exit in about 3-5 years.
So far IAN has funded about 23 ideas, including 4 outside India, and have made five successful exits, with a recent exit giving a 5x return in 15 months.
The membership of IAN spans successful Indian entrepreneurs and dynamic CEOs with high credibility and image on one hand and a passion and conviction to help young innovators with good propositions ideas.
IAN today has operations in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Pune. This brings entrepreneurs closer to IAN, apart from connecting with IAN investor virtually from anywhere.
The Network has now established a unique incubator program bringing IAN members together with a large pool of mentors to help innovators and entrepreneurs create ventures.
For more details please visit, www.indianangelnetwork.com
