Twitvid gets $6.5 million from Azure and DFJ

Video-sharing service prepares to beef up infrastructure

The popular video-sharing service for Twitter, Twitvid recieved $6.5 million in a Series B round of funding  led by Azure Partners and Draper FIsher Jurvetson.

This second round of funding will go toward expanding the team and building “out the product and technology infrastructure," according to a release.

The two-year-old startup says that it has more than doubled year over year since its inception and has gained popularity after celebrities, athletes and sporting teams have used the service to upload short videos that people can easy watch or search through on the web or mobile platform. Justin Bieber has 35 videos hosted through the site currently and Dwight Howard has 42.

Twitvid also got national press earlier this month when Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown’s daughter Bobbi Kristina uploaded a video of her a capella version of the Adele hit “Someone Like You” that received more than 200,000 views -- and listens.

Essentially, Twitvid provides a quick-and-easy platform to upload and search through video content and all you need is a Twitter account (you don’t need to create a Twitvid account).

Twitvid has also marketed the instantaneous nature of its product by promoting the nearly instantaneous streaming ability where Twitter followers can start watching video content even before the whole video has been uploaded.

The company’s mobile platforms are available across iPhone, Blackberry and Android and content can also be shared on Facebook.

"We are excited to have Azure on board as a partner given their deep relationships and experience," said Mo Al Adham, CEO and co-founder of Twitvid, in a press release. "As the leading video service in the thriving Twitter ecosystem, our product hits the sweet spot between mobile, social and video, and this new capital is key to help us expand our product offering and continue our rapid growth."

Twitvid is in competition with YouTube and Tout for short0video sharing, the former being an online giant and household name with funding from Google and the latter, a small San Francisco startup working on its second round of funding just as Twitvid. But Twitvid’s integration with Twitter and catchy name give the company a great advantage in the space.

Some of the popular videos on the site are clocking in 10,000 to more than a million views and CNET reports that Twitvid now has more than 12 million monthly unique users.

As an additional mark of the San Francisco-based Azure Partners’ interest in the company, general partner Cameron Lester is also joining Twitvid's board of directors.

Twitvid was not available for comment.

Image Source - Twitvid