MAM
Virurl raises $1.2 mn in seed financing
MUMBAI: Viral advertising platform Virurl announced the closing of a $1.2 million seed funding round and launch of its public beta.
The financing was led by Tice Capital LLC, a Dallas investment company focusing on the technology and media categories, and Los Angeles Syndicate of Technology.
The platform allows brands and media owners to instantly launch viral campaigns by incentivising Web users to share links with their friends.
MSNBC.com’s founding director Merrill Brownwill be joining Virurl as its chairman. Brown is a New York-based consultant and advisor. He has helped launch numerous early stage ventures and is advisor to various companies in the advertising, marketing and digital media fields.
Brown said, “Virurl users have already delivered more than 1.7 million clicks to media across the web while collecting over $20,000 in earnings for themselves. With our seed financing closed, we look forward to continuing our rapid growth while investing in tools to help give publishers, brands and entrepreneurs an opportunity to quickly syndicate their content on the Web.”
Additionally, Virurl has also roped in diverdified media and entertainment company Indomitable Entertainment to help out in developing strategic partnerships and engaging customers and clients. As a result, the entertainment firm’s CEO Dominic Ianno will join the board while its digital media head Boyd Bishop will work closely with Virurl on its business development efforts.
Virurl CEO and co-founder Francisco Diaz-Mitoma said, “We know that people are social, and that the Web is social, so it makes sense that ads should be social as well. The holy grail for brand advertisers is having a piece of their content go viral — it really is about peer-to-peer sharing and with Virurl, we‘ve created an online marketplace that makes that possible in under 60 seconds.”
Indomitable Entertainment head of corporate development Mathew Guliner said, “We believe Virurl has a unique and effective vision for viral marketing that will significantly impact advertising and web analytics. In the past few years, we have seen how peer-to-peer sharing is vital for a brand‘s success in the marketplace, and as a result, we are firm believers that Virurl will ultimately alter the future of advertising both domestically and internationally.”
Virurl was founded by Francisco Diaz-Mitoma, who also founded the social gaming company Titan Gaming (now Playsino), and web entrepreneur Tim Symington. It is an online marketplace that allows brands to create instant viral marketing and advertising campaigns on the web. The platform enables marketers to launch global viral campaigns by compensating Internet users to share videos, articles, music, promotional material and other media with their friends via digital formats such as email, or social networks.
Virurl launched their alpha version in late 2011 and currently serves more than 40,000 registered users enabling brands to leverage web users to begin the online social sharing process.
MAM
Dish TV shareholders approve three independent directors
99.49 per cent vote of confidence strengthens board as company expands into connected TV, e-commerce and OTT.
MUMBAI: Dish TV has just been served a near-perfect vote of confidence and the shareholders have dished it out in style. Shareholders of the DTH operator have approved the appointment of three new Independent Directors with an overwhelming 99.49 per cent approval. The three appointees are Mr Arun Kumar Kapoor, Ms Heena Naishadh Bhatt and Mr Ashok Anant Paranjpe.
The strong mandate reflects continued investor faith in the company’s strategy, disciplined execution and long-term value creation. It comes as Dish TV focuses on stabilising its core DTH business while actively scaling new verticals connected TV platform VZY, B2B e-commerce ShopZop, and OTT service Watcho to build a more diversified and resilient growth trajectory.
Dish TV India Limited, CEO & executive director Manoj Dhobhal said, “We are encouraged by the shareholders’ approval of the appointment of the Independent Directors and sincerely thank them for their continued trust and confidence. The Board is already benefiting from the Directors’ collective experience, which will further sharpen strategic focus and support disciplined execution.”
With a fresh, strengthened board in place, Dish TV is well positioned to navigate the evolving media landscape. In a sector where every percentage point matters, a 99.49 per cent thumbs-up is the kind of ringing endorsement that suggests the company’s recipe for the future is already tasting right.
