Jeremy announced it on his blog: he has officially launched Brightcove, a startup aiming at the "democratization of media" and "hoping to help producers and publishers of video take us into the emerging era of Internet Television".
There is a flash narrative on the website, supposedly clarifying the company's strategic intent. Sort of... Products and services are not specified at this point, but it is apparently about offering an alternate distribution channel for video and tv content, direct-to-consumer. Looking at the management team, it offers a mix of rich media technology and tv content relationships (ATG, Sky TV, etc.).
The company was stealth until now, after being launched last summer. It had been mentioned last December that General Catalyst Partners had seeded the venture. Jeremy has been for some time a technologist in residence at General Catalyst , where like entrepreneurs in residence, he was looking at his next move. Brightcove board directors include General Catalyst's David Orfao, and Accel Partners' Jim Breyer, these two firms having (now officially) invested $5.5M in the company last December.
I was lucky enough to have Jeremy chair an infrastructure panel at the tech conference I co-produced, RVC SoftEdge. He has great insights and a fine track record, having brought to market ColdFusion, JRun and HomeSite through the Allaire Corporation, a company he co-founded with J.J., his brother (now the CEO of OnFolio, another interesting startup), and sold to Macromedia for $360M.
An interview published today in the Boston Globe confirms the value proposition: an alternate distribution channel for independant films/producers to access consumers directly, through the rental or purchase of video downloaded to a set-top box or a MediaCenter PC.
Definitely worth putting the company on your radar as it discloses its services, and add this blog to your blogroll.
PS: For an interesting "read" on David Orfao, check out this ITConversation "Memory Lane" podcast.
PPS: Om offers a great analysis regarding Brightcove.
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