LAS VEGAS – Aereo, an over-the-air provider of TV channels through the Internet’s cloud, Wednesday announced that it has closed a $34 million Series C round of financing. Aereo launched in Detroit in November.
Aereo, in a press release, said the new round of financing will support its rapid nationwide expansion and increase its investment in hiring and technology. The investment was made by IAC, media investor Gordon Crawford and Himalaya Capital Management, as well as existing investors Highland Capital Partners, FirstMark Capital and others.
Crawford, a media and entertainment industry veteran, is one of the industry?s most influential and successful investors, having worked at Capital Research and Management for 41 years. Himalaya Capital Management is led by global investor and human rights activist Li Lu.
Aereo?s remote (cloud-based) antenna/DVR technology makes watching television simple and user-friendly. Using Aereo?s technology, consumers can pause and rewind any program that they are watching live, or save a program for future viewing.
Aereo membership begins at $8 per month, for access to Aereo?s cloud-based antenna/DVR technology and 20 hours of DVR storage. For an additional $4, consumers can upgrade their membership and receive 60 hours of DVR storage for a total of $12 per month. Consumers who join Aereo will get their first of month of access for free. Aereo?s technology works on ?smart? devices from tablets to phones to laptop computers. Aereo is currently supported on iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch. The Aereo for Android app (currently in beta) is available for download for devices running Android operating system version 4.1 or higher. Aereo is also supported on Chrome, Safari, Internet Explorer 9, Firefox, Opera, AppleTV (via airplay) and Roku platforms.
The announcement was made by Aereo?s CEO and Founder, Chet Kanojia, at the Citi Global Internet, Media & Telecommunications Conference in Las Vegas.
?Aereo experienced tremendous growth in 2013 and we expect 2014 to be another blockbuster year,? said Kanojia. ?Last year at this time, Aereo was launched in only New York City. Today, Aereo is available in 10 markets and will grow to 15 by the end of the quarter. In 2013, we also launched our first native app for Android, made improvements to enhance the user experience and more than doubled our employee headcount. Consumers are craving choice and options and as a result, we continue to see explosive growth across all our markets.?
Aereo is currently available to residents in New York City, Boston, Atlanta, Miami, Salt Lake City, Houston, Dallas, Denver, Detroit and Baltimore.
