Live video streaming company UStream.TV raises $11.1 million

http://ustream.tv/I9qIAGp79s6P76CrBpi1wQ.uscUStream.TV, a live video-streaming application, has raised $11.1 million in a first round of funding from venture capital firm DCM, as well as previous investors Labrador Ventures and The Band of Angels.

Since its launch in March of last year, the broadcasting platform says it has had more than 260,000 broadcasters, 2 million viewer hours per month, 2.2 million unique visitors per month, and 400-600 streams at any given moment. It claims to have grown 325 percent over the course of the last six months

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Users with a web-cam and an internet connection can stream via browser to any user across the web, including an embeddable widget for personal blogs, websites, and social networking accounts. Ustream, like some of its competitors, lets users download files in a variety of video formats, like .FLV, .WMV, .MP4 and .MOV. This way, users can upload syndicate their videos on the many video-sharing sites out there. Check out the sample, above.

The Los-Altos, Cali.-based company has had a wide range of celebrities and politicians use its services from Senators Obama and McCain, to artists Chris Brown and The Plain White T’s, and counts Bebo, Veoh, Digg, Meebo, Sun, and the Republication National Convention as past and current partners.

The video-streaming market is heating up, as competitor Qik’s parent company Visivo Communications raised $3 million to expand the mobile streaming app, and Yahoo announced its own video-streaming service.

And with more than 14 competitors ranging from Justin.tv to Kyte and Mogulus to Flixwagon, it is far from clear which company will emerge as the dominant leader in video-streaming, but UStream.Tv now has a significant cash advantage over its rivals.

In early February, rumors swirled that UStream.Tv was facing acquisition talks with Microsoft, but were never confirmed or denied as the company chose to raise money instead.

David Adewumi, a contributing writer with VentureBeat, is the founder & CEO of http://heekya.com a social storytelling platform billed “The Wikipedia of Stories.”