Klip, an iOS app that allows users to capture, share, discover and view mobile videos, has raised $8 million in Series B funding from Benchmark Capital, with Matrix Partners and Alain Rossmann (the founder of the company) participating. This brings Klip’s total funding to $10 million.
Klip, which launched in September, is focused is on the discovery and providing the highest quality video streaming around for mobile device. You simply shoot a new ‘Klip’ or grab one from your Camera Roll and share it with the Klip community, your friends on Facebook, Twitter, on your YouTube channel, or by email.
Within the app, you can watch Klips from around the world, follow other Klippers, re-klip the Klips you think are worth sharing again, or stay on top of hot topics by following hashtags.
All sharing is built around hashtags, making it easy to surface relevant content by topic or event. Rossmann tells me there’s an explosion of use around hashtags, in the app, especially amongst sports fans.
As we noted in our initial review of the App, Klip’s secret sauce is the technology behind the app. If you want to preview a video, you can Swipe the video and it will play at the accelerated speed at which you move your finger across the video. If you shake the phone, all the videos will begin playing on the page. And because mobile bandwidth can be flaky, Klip includes adaptive video streaming. The app will actually check and adapt streaming to your bandwidth once every 4 seconds.
Rossmann tells me that the new funding will be used towards future product development, especially in driving technology on ‘user experience side and cloud side.’ He explains that there is a big cloud component in the app’s technology, with the ability to search and index hashtags in realtime. For now, there are no plans for an Android app, says Rossmann.
He adds that since launch, Klip has consistently been the highest ranked social video app in the Apple App Store. He’s optimistic about the user response and engagement the app has seen so far, and doesn’t seem to be to concerned about the fellow competition in the mobile social video sharing space, which include Vlix, and SocialCam.