Voddler Launches Subscription Service - Goes Halfway
Voddler, a company sometimes referred to as the Spotify of movies, is beginning to offer a subscription service for 7,9€ a month (or 79 SEK). The advantage for subscribers, or Voddler Plus members as the company refers to the plan, is that for a monthly fee they have part of the Voddler catalogue available to them at no extra cost. You read correctly - part of the catalogue. The downside is that you still will have to pay for some movies. For customers - this isn't as good a deal as it sounds.
Voddler Hits 1 Million Users
We have been keeping track on the progress of Voddler for a long time at Arctic Startup and perhaps the best possible mention came when we talked about the movie streaming service hitting past 300,000 user mark back in 2010. The service has now scaled to over I million users as 13 year old Phillip became its 1 millionth user. This is quite an achievement given that the movie streaming service had removed the need for invite based registrations and opened for all in 2010.
Wikileaks: US Embassy Cables Praise Voddler Launch
I haven't seen any Wikileaks revelations regarding startups, not that they should have too much in common in the first place. However, I've just come across a US Embassy cable regarding the video streaming and rental service Voddler via a tweet from Mikko Hyppönen, the CRO of F-Secure. In doing so, the cables reveal some interesting figures from 2009 regarding the service.
Nokia Growth Partners Invests $8 Million Into Voddler
Nokia Growth Partners is the leading investor in the latest financing round for Voddler, a video streaming service for the Nordics. Back in September, Elisa, a Finnish operator received approximately 10% of Voddler's stock for 40 million Swedish kronor. Back then, the company was valued at approximately 30 million euros.
In The Footsteps Of Spotify - Voddler Goes Social
Voddler, the Swedish movie startup that is in many ways referred to as the "Spotify for movies", has announced today that it has added social features to its service. We recently wrote about Voddler getting more powder on board with its 40 million Swedish Kronor investment, where one of the biggest investors was the Finnish communications company Elisa. With the new features, Voddler is looking to attract of course more suggestions of movies and thus usage of their service. Regardless of this, I think this is an extremely natural direction to move into.
Finnish Operator Company Invests Into Voddler
According to Talouselämä, a Finnish business magazine, the Finnish mobile operator Elisa has bought an approximately 10% share of Voddler in their latest stock emission. The Swedish Dagens Industri writes that Voddler will be collecting approximately 40 million crowns in the emission, possibly valuing the company at 300 million crowns (about 30 million euros).
Eqvitec Gives Voddler A 2.5 Million Euro Boost
Eqvitec Technology Fund III has invested a hefty 26 million Swedish Kronors (about 2.55 million euro) into Voddler, a Swedish startup looking to disrupt the way we watch movies at home. Hadar Cars, a partner of Eqvitec will join the Voddler board with the investment. This is great news for the whole ecosystem as consumer internet had been a little less active in terms of investments in the recent quarters. Also, another sign of this investment for the ecosystem is its size, if there is potential - investors are willing to invest and with Voddler's 26 million Kronor investment it has been proven.
Who Gave Voddler That Money?
Yesterday, Swedish streaming movie startup Voddler announced 35 million kronor in new funding to help "develop the service." It was also announced that Bertil Villard of lawfirm Vinge would be taking a board position at the company. It was not announced who the money came from. So, how about some entirely rational speculation on whos handing out cash like that to companies with a very uncertain business model and and even more uncertain technical capability, shall we?
First, lets look at the facts. 35 million kr is not a lot of money. Especcially not when you consider that Spotify's A-round was over €15 million, and arguably, both the licensing costs and infrastructure required to stream movies are much, much higher. Second, no venture firm is claiming credit for the investment, and a lawyer is taking a board position and not a "VC-guy." This is potentially worrying since even the best connected corporate lawyers fall short of being considered "smart money." Since thier connections are usually with other corporate lawyers, politicians, and finance types, not the tech and media masters that Voddler will need if they intend to scale and, you know, BE SUCCESSFUL. So, where did that secret money come from, and why aren't they talking?
Voddler Signs Deals With Hollywood Studios
The Swedish video-on-demand service Voddler, has just announced a number of agreements with different Hollywood studios to distribute their content. In short, Voddler uses an open source XBMC media centre solution to distribute its content, so the user needs a set-top box to be eligible to receive Voddler's offering. This could be said to be one of the largest agreements in the space of video for a Nordic company.
