“The total investment round in Vator.tv will provide the company the capital needed to realize significant market opportunities and get to the next level.”
-Sid Mohasseb, Managing Partner of Venture Farms

Vator.tv, the video program where entrepreneurs pitch their startup ideas has raised a second round of funding. The funding was provided by Venture Farm LLC. The funding amount was undisclosed. Other investors include Jeff Peterson, Peter Thiel, Richard Rosenblatt, and Georges Harick.

“Vator provides an innovative platform that allows entrepreneurs to get their ideas or needs discovered and connect with others in networks of interest” stated Mohasseb. “It is the YouTube, meets Myspace, meets CNN; and all with a viable commercial purpose centered around entrepreneurship.”

Vator.tv was started by Bambi Francisco [pictured above], a former correspondent at MarketWatch. Bambi started Vator.tv during her tenure at MarketWatch.

For additional information about Vator.TV, refer to Pulse 2.0’s previous coverage.

Information Source:
[1] paidContent: Start-Up Pitch Site Vator.TV Raises Second Angel Round by Joseph Weisenthal

Vator.TV[1] is a company created by former MarketWatch analyst, Bambi Francisco.  Under the News section of Vator.TV,[2] there was an interesting quote by Austrian economist, Joseph Schumpeter.  Essentially Schumpeter said that innovation is the driving force of economic progress and entrepreneurs are agents of innovation. 

Vator.TV will be a hub for entrepreneurs to sell themselves and their ideas in the form of an elevator pitch.  Entrepreneurs would then hope that they are able to convince venture capitalists and investors that their idea is worth money.

There are some featured videos on the homepage of Vator.TV.  I just finished watching one by Vinod Khosla, founder of VC firm, Khosla Ventures[3].  In the video, Khosla was discussing what it takes to be an entrepreneur.

Registration is free and uploading video pitches are free.  Registration is quite simple as demonstrated below:

After that, you select whether you are a employee, freelancer, a student, looking for work, or an investor.  Depending on the selection, you are asked to fill in a little bit more information.  For example, if you are an investor, then you select whether you are accredited or not.  If you are a business owner, you fill out your company name and title.  If you are a student, you fill in your university name, country, degree, and class years.

There will be several competitions placed within Vator.TV as well.  There is a Wine 2.0 Business Plan competition where wine start-ups pitch ideas.  There is a  Vator.tv Pequot Video-Game Challenge as well.  In the Video-Game Challenge, video game start-ups could win a one-hour meeting with venture capital firm, Pequot Ventures[4] for advice or actual investment.

[1] Vator.TV
[1] Vator.TV News: Launching Vator.TV
[3] Vator.TV: Vinod Khosla - What does it take to be an entrepreneur
[4] pequotventures.com

Bambi Francisco is a former correspondent of the technology section at MarketWatch. MarketWatch is owned by Dow Jones. Utilizing her connections with venture capitalists, Bambi went on to start up her own company called Vator.TV.

The purpose of Vator.TV will be for entrepreneurs to pitch their ideas and thoughts through video. Amazon is powering the video streaming. The name comes from “elevator” in the context of the concept of the elevator pitch.

The funding came from various sources and the amount was not disclosed. Richard Rosenblatt, the former CEO of Intermix was an investor. Intermix is the company that owned MySpace which is now owned by News Corporation. Georges Harik, a developer of Google AdSense also joined as an investor. Peter Thiel, the former CEO of PayPal Inc. and Matthew Hill, an early investor in Shopping.com (which was acquired by eBay in June 2005 for $635 million) both joined in for funding.

Below is a video of Bambi being interviewed by Mr. Thiel:

Information Source: [VentureBeat]