Flingo Raises $7M in Funding, Will Expand Social TV Platform
Flingo, which creates apps for smart TVs, has raised $7 million in Series A funding from August Capital. As part of the arrangement, David Marquardt and Howard Hartenbaum of August Capital will join Flingo's board of directors.
Flingo creates apps that combine streamed video, broadcast TV, and advertising. The company's apps are available on 7.8 million screens in 118 countries. Flingo plans to use the funding to get its apps on even more devices and to improve its automatic content recognition (ACR) system, which can identify broadcast programs as they air. Once a Flingo app has identified a program, it delivers contextual information to a TV, notebook, or mobile device.
Flingo apps are available on smart TVs and other devices from LG, Samsung, Vizio, Sanyo, Western Digital, Netgear, and Insignia.
"Our new investors share our vision that Smart TVs represent a unique way to improve the TV viewing experience and an opportunity to unlock new sources of growth in the $60 billion TV advertising business," says Ashwin Navin, CEO and co-founder of Flingo.
The company's newly created social TV framework will soon let A+E and History channel viewers easily share or tweet about what they're watching.
Related Articles
Aiming to blur the lines between standard and connected TV, Flingo offers second-screen without the apps.
04 Jan 2013
Smart TV app company now counts $8M in Series A funding, plans global expansion.
02 May 2012
Agreement gives premium content owners a way to tap the growing demand for advertising on multiple screens.
24 Jan 2011