US Firms Invest In Chinese P2P Video Website

Chinese website UUSee has received $23.5 million in funding from US firms, according to AP. The round was led by Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Highland Capital Partners, and included Steamboat Ventures (the VC arm of Walt Disney), Sequoia Capital and Susquehanna International Group — the last two having invested in previous rounds. UUSee has 36 million registered users (which is almost a quarter of the Chinese online population) and distributes live and on-demand TV from: CCTV, China’s largest TV broadcaster; CSAT, China’s largest satellite TV company; and Beijing TV.
The most interesting aspect is the P2P part. “UUSee distributes the videos from servers, but to reduce long-distance Internet traffic, it also has a feature that uses viewers’ computers to distribute video to other, nearby viewers. It’s the only peer-to-peer network approved by Chinese telecom regulators”. The company makes money from advertising and premium text-messaging services used to vote in contests — it is expected to have revenue of at least $10 million this year and become profitable on a quarterly basis by the end of the year.

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