YouTube Receives $3.5M Funding from Sequoia

An anonymous reader writes "YouTube, the self-described "Flickr of video" has now received $3.5M in funding from Sequoia Capital, the same VC firm that funded Yahoo!, Google, and PayPal. Competitors of YouTube include Revver, launched just last month and founded by Ian Clarke of The Freenet Project fame. As of now, both services are free. With the online video space heating up in recent months, the question is who will discover the best business model." YouTube was first mentioned on Slashdot shortly after its launch three months ago.

Vobbo is Better!

[CuteVlogger]

Vobbo [vobbo.com] is better! More file formats, but you can use your own domain, make rss feeds for any search term, and embed videos in other annoying trendy sites [myspace.com] :)

Re:So who are Sequoia?

[mridley]

They're a top tier VC in Silicon Valley. More info is on their web site [sequoiacap.com].

Yahoo, Google, Apple, VA, etc

[Anonymous Coward]

Atari, Rackspace, Cisco, CafePress, PayPal, etc.

They've funded a few winners over the years...

Re:Yahoo, Google, Apple, VA, etc

[Agrippa]

They also funded MP3.com with 12 million in early 99 and cashed out hansomely way, way, way before the bubble burst.

.agrippa.

Explained

[TubeSteak]

VC = Venture Capital = money to do stuff with

Sequia Capital = Company that gives out VC if you beg enough

Flikr = Photo sharing site that allows you to tag pictures in your gallery according to their content - this makes them easily searchable -

Yahoo: Yahoo bought Flikr a while ago

YouTube = video version of Flikr, UL your vids & tag them
http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos.php?user=cha irdiving [youtube.com]

Revver = same thing as YouTube
http://www.revver.com/video/2367/ [revver.com]

Re:How do we make money?

[Time Doctor]

This joke was a reference to an old saturday night live episode wherein Phil Hartman explains that the customers at "Change Bank", a bank where all they do is give you change for other denominations of money makes money via "volume". Of course now that I've explained the joke it is no longer funny, you insensitive clod.

Missing the most important thing about Revver

[Sanity]

The important difference between Revver and the other sites is that Revver allows the creators of videos to earn money. They do this by giving video creators a 50:50 cut of the advertising revenue generated from the ads attached to that user's video. This approach is unique among the various "Flickr of Video" sites, and is pretty unique across other forms of media too.

This is very important, particularly if you consider the growing frustration of video creators as these websites make money from their creativity without rewarding them (see http://ebaumsworldsucks.com [ebaumsworldsucks.com] for a good example of this frustration).