Pulse2 Technology and Social Media News » Boxee

Boxee Raises $16.5 Million

Amit Chowdhry — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 14:23:28 +0000

Boxee is a New York City based company that makes software for watching online video on TV. The company has recently raised $16.5 million in a round led by Pitango and Softbank. Previous investors that participated in this round include General Catalyst, Spark Capital, and Union Square Ventures.

Boxee plans on using the funding to further develop their product and increase partnerships. Boxee is not mainstream and they face intense competition from Google, Apple, and Microsoft.

[BusinessInsider]

Iomega To Create A NAS Device Running On Boxee

Amit Chowdhry — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 18:09:14 +0000

Boxee has announced on their blog that Iomega will be manufacturing a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device running on their software. Many people believe that Boxee is a hardware company, but they are in fact a software company. Boxee’s aim is to get their software on as many NAS devices as possible.

Iomega is the company’s second device partner. The Iomega product will be either diskless, 1TB, or 2TB. Boxee recommends getting one of the devices with a hard drive if streaming HD video from your WiFi network is too much to handle. Boxee said that these devices is expected to arrive later this quarter. This is the MSRP of the devices:
No disk – $229
1TB – $299
2TB – $349

[Boxee Blog]

Boxee Box Available For Pre-Order At A Price Of $199

Amit Chowdhry — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 02:44:13 +0000

Even though the Apple TV is on the way, Boxee has put the Boxee Box device up for pre-order at a price of $199.99 on Amazon.com. The Boxee Box is expected to arrive in November. The Boxee Box ships with a QWERTY remote, 802.11n connectivity, and supports the upcoming Boxee 1.0 release. The Boxee Box was delayed from the original June launch date because they decided to switch from the NVIDIA Tegra 2 chipset to the Intel Atom CE4100 platform. The full press release is below:

The Boxee Box by D-Link, Now With Intel(R) Atom(TM) Processor Inside
D-Link Selects the Intel(R) Atom(TM) Processor CE4100 to Power the Boxee Box

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, Sep 13, 2010 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) — Today at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF), D-Link and Boxee announced that the upcoming Boxee Box by D-Link now will be powered by the Intel(R) Atom(TM) processor CE4100. Additionally, starting today, Canadian customers will be able to pre-order the Boxee Box by D-Link through Best Buy at www.bestbuy.ca/boxee and Future Shop at www.futureshop.ca/boxee. Units will begin shipping in November 2010 in the US, Canada, EU and Australia.

The award winning Boxee Box by D-Link, first released in December 2009, received critical acclaim from the industry and is highly anticipated by consumers. The product is the first media device capable of playing all major media formats and codecs within a home network along with free and premium TV shows and movies, videos, music, and photos from the Internet, with support for full 1080p high-definition (HD) and 5.1 surround sound.

With its powerful Intel-based hardware, an open source software platform, and tens-of-thousands of movies, shows and apps already available, the Boxee Box gives users unparalleled access to on-demand entertainment and newfound control over their TV.

The Boxee Box uses the Intel Atom CE4100, Intel’s system-on-a-chip designed for TV and Internet integration. It provides performance, audio visual and graphic capabilities to enable Internet-driven applications, video, personal media, advanced user interfaces and electronic program guides.

“This represents long overdue innovation to the entertainment experience that D-Link will help consumers quickly deploy through their home network. These exciting new capabilities align closely with Intel’s commitment to improving how people access and enjoy digital content on their TV,” said Lou Reda, Vice President and General Manager, Consumer Division, D-Link. “We are leading a revolution that will offer tremendous new possibilities in the home.”

TV on Your Schedule. Nearly 40,000 TV episodes available from your favorite networks, ready to watch any time you want. Huge Movie Library. Enjoy tens-of-thousands of free movies and new releases in stunning HD from premium movie services. Plays All Your Digital Stuff. Access videos, music, or pictures from your computer or home network. Tailored to Your Couch. Internet TV should be more than just Internet on your TV. The Boxee Box and two-faced QWERTY remote are designed to transform the Internet into something you’ll love watching on your HDTV from the couch. See What Your Friends Are Watching. Follow what your Facebook and Twitter friends are watching, and share your favorites too. Give Your Wallet a Break. Why pay for stuff you don’t watch? The Boxee Box lets you watch a vast range of popular TV shows and movies – you choose what you pay for! Try Boxee Now. Since its launch two years ago, Boxee has added well over one million users. The service is available for free and you can use it now! When you want to shift the viewing experience from your PC to your HDTV, the Boxee Box by D-Link automatically imports your account, bringing your favorite TV shows, apps, and friends with you.

Pricing and Availability The Boxee Box is expected to be available in November 2010 at an average street price of $199 in North America. Prices may vary in other regions.

[NewTeeVee]

Boxee Hires Zach Klein For Product Management

Amit Chowdhry — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 22:15:35 +0000

“Zach has the magic touch and we are very excited to have him on the team,” stated Boxee CEO Avner Ronen said on the Boxee blog. Klein was on the founding team of Connected Ventures, the parent company of CollegeHumor.com, Busted Tees, and Vimeo. Boxee raised $6 million last month and they employ about 19 people. Boxee designs software that makes watching video from the web a more pleasant experience when connected to the TV.

Boxee Raises $6 Million Series B

Amit Chowdhry — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 08:33:13 +0000

Boxee is an open source software company that developed a platform that integrates your own personal media with social media. This means that the service broadcasts what you are listening to or watching with other friends on social networks.

New York based Boxee raised $6 million in Series B funding, led by General Catalyst Partners. Spark Capital and Union Square Ventures also participated in this round. The company now has a total of $10 million in funding.

Avner Ronen said that he plans to use the capital to add more content and make the software more friendly for indie developers. The company also takes Internet video from the web and makes it more presentable for watching on TV. Boxee already works with Netflix, YouTube, and MLB.com but they had struggled to add Hulu.com to their service.

Ronen believes that content creators would have an easier time doing a deal with Boxee over other vidoe websites because of its unique applications and social features. Boxee accumulates hundreds of video services in one. Boxee claims to have about 600,000 users.

[via NYT]

Boxee Raises $4 Million From Spark and Union Square

Amit Chowdhry — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 19:19:04 +0000

Boxee is a startup whose flagship service is the ability to deliver online content to TVs and to Apple TV. Spark Capital and Union Square Ventures have invested $4 million in the social media center platform company. Bijan Sabet and Fred Wilson will be joining Boxee’s Board through the rounds of funding as well.

Boxee has about 100,000 alpha testers using the service and funding was needed to expand their services. By the end of 2009, Boxee plans on launching a “kick-ass beta,” building more functionality and content, improving the product based on user feedback, work with team-xbmc and additional developers for resources, and finish the year with over 1 million users.

Currently Boxee delivers content from Hulu, CBS, Comedy Central, Last.fm, and Flickr.