Monday, November 17, 2008

EyeView multimedia biz lands more than $1M financing

By Mass High Tech Staff

Online advertising technology company EyeView Inc. reports it has closed its first round of venture funding.

The company would not release the amount of the funding except to say it is “a bit more than $1 million.” The funding was led by Lightspeed-Gemini Internet Lab. Gigi Levi, CEO of 888 Holdings PLC and a member of EyeView’s board, also participated in the round.

Earlier this year, EyeView won the $20,000 prize at the Harvard Business School Business Plan Competition and was a semifinalist in the MIT $100K. The startup produces multimedia, including video, audio and interactive features made with Adobe Flash, coupled with reporting, streaming and support services. As a business plan competition entrant, the company was already profitable and boasted customers including eBay Inc., Yahoo Inc., Nokia Corp. and Verizon Communications Inc.

One of the company’s founders, vice president of marketing Tal Riesenfeld, is a graduate of Harvard Business School.

Founded in 2007, EyeView has offices in Burlington, Sydney and Tel Aviv. The company’s customers include large corporations such as eBay Inc., Yahoo Inc., 888 Holdings, Hewlett-Packard Co. and Nokia Corp., as well as small to midsize businesses such as eToro, Alefo, getPrice.com.au and mPortico Ltd.

The Lightspeed-Gemini Internet Lab, is an Israel-based initiative focused on seed investment for very early-stage Internet startups formed by venture capital funds Gemini Israel Funds and Lightspeed Venture Partners.