Social video platform company Spreecast has raised $7 million in Series A financing. New investors include Meakem Becker Venture Capital, GGV Capital and MentorTech Ventures as well as Stan Shuman, managing director at Allen & Company. Return backers include Gordon Crawford, media and technology investor at Capital Research Global Investors; Sandy Robertson, founder of Robertson Stephens and Francisco Partners; and Edward W. Scott Jr., founder of BEA Systems, the company said in a press release. Based in San Francisco, Spreecast launched a public beta of its technology in November 2011. The company also has offices in New York.

PRESS RELEASE

Spreecast, the social video platform that brings people together for conversation, announced today that it has secured $7 million in Series A funding. New investors include Meakem Becker Venture Capital, GGV Capital and MentorTech Ventures as well as Stan Shuman, managing director at Allen & Company. Repeat backers include Gordon Crawford, media and technology investor at Capital Research Global Investors, Sandy Robertson, founder of Robertson Stephens and Francisco Partners, and Edward W. Scott, Jr., founder of BEA Systems.

 

Launched as a public beta in November 2011, Spreecast’s mission is to create the web’s next conversation platform using interactive video and the social networks that people love. In a Spreecast conversation, up to four people at a time can interact face-to-face on screen, while thousands of others can watch, chat, and participate by submitting comments and questions and sharing across social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

 

“We’ve experienced significant momentum and success this year in our effort to build Spreecast into the leading platform for live and recorded video conversations on topics ranging from sports to politics to entertainment. This funding is yet another building block and we’re thrilled to have these new investors join the team to aid us in accomplishing our goals,” said Jeff Fluhr, co-founder and CEO of Spreecast. “The rise of social media has shown us that people want to connect online; Spreecast provides a way for people to connect around face-to-face conversation.”

 

From bloggers and journalists to celebrities and large media companies, content creators utilize Spreecast’s advanced producer controls, real-time Facebook and Twitter sharing, and features that help interact with audiences like never before. Spreecasts can also be embedded on the web and are available for instant playback, which drives views and shares long after the live experience is over. No other platform offers this level of engagement.

 

This new investment will allow Spreecast to expand its hiring, community and product development efforts.

 

“Live social video has the potential to be the next major frontier of the social and mobile web — on a global basis,” said Jeff Richards, partner at GGV Capital. “Spreecast has a terrific team of experienced entrepreneurs and digital media execs, a very big vision, the most innovative product on the market and a rapidly growing user base.”

 

Recent Spreecast examples include:

 

 

 

–  A Conversation about Journalists’ Safety and Rights with the Free

Press, the International News Safety Institute and the Digital Media

Law Project

 

http://www.spreecast.com/events/webinar-journalists-safety-rights–2            –  Shawn Johnson Interview- a chat with the Olympic gold medalist and

“Dancing with the Stars” all-star

 

http://www.spreecast.com/events/shawn-johnson-dancing-with-the-stars            –  A Conversation with Paulo Coelho- discussion with the bestselling

author about his new book

 

http://www.spreecast.com/events/paulo-coelhoaleph            –  Live Chat with Chris Colfer- The “Glee” star talks about his new

children’s book

 

http://www.spreecast.com/events/live-chat-with-chris-colfer            –  Daily BlazeCast- The day’s news with editor Scott Baker from The Blaze

 

http://www.spreecast.com/users/scott–50

 

 

About Spreecast Spreecast ( www.spreecast.com ) is the social video platform that brings people together for conversation. The company was founded in 2011 by Jeff Fluhr, cofounder and former CEO of StubHub, Keith Carter, Robert Hunt, and Mike Slemmer. Initial investors include Frank Biondi, former CEO of Viacom; Gordon Crawford, media and technology investor at Capital Research Global Investors and Edward W. Scott, Jr., cofounder of BEA Systems. Spreecast has offices in San Francisco, CA and New York, NY.