Pluto.TV, a startup whose service aggregates Internet video in a TV-like grid, has closed $13 million in Series A funding led by U.S. Venture Partners, with participation from UTA as well as existing investors Sky, Chicago Ventures, Great Oaks Venture Capital and Luminari Capital.
The L.A.-based company also named three industry execs to its advisory board: Ross Levinsohn, former CEO of Guggenheim Digital and Yahoo; Ken Parks, Spotify’s chief content office; and Stephane Kurgan, COO of gaming company King Digital Entertainment.
The latest round comes after previous investments from Universal Music Group, Terry Semel’s Windsor Media, Pritzker Group and angel investors including UTA CEO Jeremy Zimmer. With the funding, USVP general partner Rick Lewis will join Pluto.TV’s board.
“With the explosion of premium content available on the web and consumers increasingly watching video across various devices, Pluto is poised to be the top destination for viewers looking for the best programming in one place,” USVP’s Lewis said in a statement.
Launched in March, Pluto.TV’s service pulls in video from YouTube and other websites, organizing it into about 100 thematic channels like music, news, sports and comedy as well as more niche areas like anime and “cats 24/7.” Those are presented as linear, TV-style continuous streams, while users can also access video on-demand.
In October, Sky announced an investment of $500,000 in Pluto.TV. In the latest round, the U.K. satcaster has put in another $1 million.
Pluto.TV’s long list of angel investors includes: Brent Weinstein, UTA’s head of digital media; Avram Miller, founder, Intel Capital; Mich Mathews, former CMO, Microsoft; Chris Silbermann, president and partner, ICM; Greg Steiner, COO, Beachmint and former COO, eHarmony; rapper Nas and Anthony Saleh’s Queensbridge Venture Partners; Dennis Phelps, general partner, Institutional Venture Partners; Jonathan Nelson, CEO Omnicom Digital; Tom Whalley, former CEO, Warner Bros. Records and co-founder, Interscope Records; Jamie Tarses, former president, ABC Entertainment; TenOneTen Ventures managing partner David Waxman; and Maker Studios SVP of marketing Jeremy Welt.
Pluto.TV is currently available in the U.S., but the startup expects to roll out worldwide eventually. The service is available through iOS and Android apps, Google Chromecast, Amazon Kindle Fire tablets and Fire TV set-tops, as well as on the web at pluto.tv. The company has not disclosed how many users it has attracted to date.
