Online TV startup Konbini just raised €3M in its second round of founding from NextStage, one of the most active French venture capital firms (NextStage manages a €220m fund). The startup, which already raised €700k in the occasion of its launch in october 2008, aims at a younger internet generation which likes producing and broadcasting videos. The final objective of the company is to become a big player for video content in the 15-35 years old category, between YouTube, Hulu and HBO Premium.
Konbini will open an office in London before the end of the year and hopes to expand to the US too.
The French startup is trying to build a product and user-base aimed at advertisers who want to move budget from traditional TV to the web. They’ve developed a proprietary advertisement platform/format for this purpose.
“We have decided to capitalize on creativity, this second round of funding confirms our model oriented to production and broadcasting for a large audience of internet users. NextStage’s experience will give us all the means to finish the development and reach profitability in the short term,” says Konbini’s founders Lucie Beudet and David Creuzot. Konbini employs 10 people, reaches 300,000 unique visitors per month and is aiming at a million before the end of the year.