German streaming video startup make.tv has filed for insolvency. The platform for live video streaming and hosting of transmitted programs will be available until mid October and then switched off. Make.tv was just in the process of pitching for €2.5m in a third round of financing.
An email informs all partners that, well, the partnerships are over and make.tv will not be available any more for live transmissions from barcamps or trade shows. Live coverage from today’s eco Kongress 2009, a high ranking summit by the association of German Internet enterprises (eco), appears all to have been canceled. At least there is no video stream, either on the eco or the make.tv website.
Founder and CEO Andreas Constantin Meyer admitted in an interview yesterday that his company over-estimated the size of the market for web tv.
To broadcast live with make.tv it needs – sorry, needed – nothing more than a webcam or video camera connected to a laptop with browser. No extra hardware or software was necessary. The prices from €0 to €199 per month attracted small businesses, musicians or event organizers, but also renowned users like the German Liberal Party (FDP), the Catholic church or one of Germany’s biggest tv stations, ZDF. But since its inception in November 2007 make.tv appealed to far less users than planned. Paying customers were clearly sparse.
The 15 strong company received an undisclosed sum from public-private VC High-Tech Gründerfonds in November 2008, which combines investments from the German Federal Ministry for Economy and Technology, the KfW Banking Group as well as industry companies BASF, Robert Bosch, Carl Zeiss, Daimler, Deutsche Telekom and Siemens.