Dailymotion raises $25 million

French video sharing site gets major boost from investors closely related to French government

There's YouTube which gets around 106 million unique visitors per month in the US (according to Nielsen), and then there's other video sharing sites.  One of those video sharing sites which is seeing significant traffic is a French one called Dailymotion.  Today, the company announced it raised $25 million in funding from the French Sovereign Fund (FSI), Advent Venture Partners, AGF Private Equity, Atlas Venture, and Partech International.

The French Sovereign Fund, which is 49% owned by the French government, led the round contributing $11 million.   The FSI acts as an informed investor, taking minority stakes in promising French companies to boost the competitiveness of the country's economy. 

In this case, Dailymotion is definitely up there as a promising video sharing/viewing site.  The company attracts 60 million unique monthly visitors and one billion videos viewed worldwide (Source: comScore, August 2009).  It's got a wide range of content from user generated content, to news, to film & TV and more, so a little bit for everybody.  At the same time, its videos are offered in HD proving its technology is up to par with other video sharing competitors like Hulu and YouTube.  

As for business model, Dailymotion is relying on ads saying its mission is, "to provide the best marketing opportunities for advertisers, while respecting content protection."  

The company said it is close to breaking even and plans to use this large amount of funds to deliver video to mobile phones and IPTV's.