Intel Capital, Relay Ventures pour $9M into Jelli

Social radio platform gets new cash infusion

Jelli, a social radio platform, announced Tuesday that it's raised $9 million in funding, led by Intel Capital, Relay Ventures, and with participation from existing investors First Round Capital, as well as angels, including Roger Ames, a former chairman of EMI Music.

Partners at Intel Capital and Relay Ventures will also take on board seats.  

As part of the fundraising announcement, Jelli also said that it has more than 70 affiliates across the country using the Jelli platform. The number of listeners jumped 250% in the last year to two million listeners per month. The company is now serving 60 million ad impressions per month.

According to the company, Jelli is a social radio platform that combines group listening with game mechanics to make radio more social and fun. Jelli empowers listeners to crowdsource playlists on actual FM radio stations. These listeners become the DJs, using their browsers and Jelli’s iPhone and Android apps to take over the broadcast by voting for the songs they want to hear in real-time. Listeners engage with other users in live chat rooms and through Facebook, creating community and a highly social experience. Jelli’s cloud-based platform broadcasts this user-controlled programming in realtime on air on terrestrial FM radio stations across the United States. Jelli’s platform also serves terrestrial radio spots on air, creating a new way for affiliates and advertisers to leverage the reach of radio with the engagement and measurement of the web.