Q&A platform for video VYou is announcing today $3 million in Series A funding, lead by RRE Ventures and Highland Capital Partners and followed on by High Peaks Ventures, Broadway Video Ventures, Kevin Wall, David Tisch and Rick Webb.
Gunning for a media play, the New York-based VYou recently partnered up with Hearst Newspapers, MTV/VH1, Simon and Schuster and the Newark Peace Summit in order to help these brands better connect with their audiences. In the daunting shadow of YouTube VYou, which allows users to converse through brief snippets of video, will have to be nimbler and more niche in order to gain a competitive foothold in the user generated online video space.
Since its November launch VYou has accumulated over 20 million views and 30K user sign ups. Founder Steve Spurgat tells me that he doesn’t liken the company to a Quora or Formspring for video, but in fact chose the video element because it was simply the fastest way to achieve his ultimate goal of advancing how people communicate online, “My initial approach to this company was to create more intimacy in how people communicate, video was just the by-product.”
Spurgat plans on using the new financing to focus on rolling out key product features and building out the tech team, “We’re very lucky that VYou is an incredibly easy sell. The key is for us is to build a great product and let it sell itself.”
VYou lets you get advice from experts, interact with your favorite celebrity or organization, or communicate with friends and family using a social presence that persists even when you’re away. As a simple application it can be embedded and posted anywhere on the web giving you tremendous power and creative control. Where the likes of Twitter and Youtube have paved the way, VYou is the next generation in social communications to an online audience.
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