Joost is following in the footsteps of its predecessor, brought to life by Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom, the same pair the brought the world Skype. It is now taking $45 million of venture capital in a deal led by Index Ventures and Sequoia Capital. Index was one of Skype’s investors.
The money will be used to speed up momentum by accelerating product development, geographical expansion, localization, and service offerings. Skype took a far smaller round of VC funding shortly after it emerged from stealth and two years later the company was sold for something approaching $3 billion. The idea behind Joost is that it will offer advertising-supported free video channels complete with copyright protection
Li Ka-shing, chairman of Hutchison Whampoa and Cheung Kong Holdings, has also invested in Joost through his charitable foundation, the Li Ka Shing Foundation and is likely to lead the Asian business development for Joost.
CBS, Viacom and most recently Warner Brothers have all promised content for Joost, and CBS and Viacom have also made an investment in the round and CBS says it has put up 2000 hours of its most prominent programming. Viacom has licensed Comedy Central, MTV, VH1 and Paramount Pictures content.