Sotal-Cloud, a Moscow-based developer of video content solutions, has raised 31 million rubles (approximately $1 million) of seed capital in its first round of funding from the government-owned RVC Seed Fund and Sotal-Interactive, a provider of innovative solutions for interactive TV. Another member of the investor consortium is St. Petersburg’s Pelana, an accounting and legal software provider.
Sotal-Cloud’s CEO Alexander Piterbarg explained to East-West Digital News that Sotal-Interactive has invested in his company both money and web television-related IP. He declined to disclose his company’s valuation.
The money will be used to launch a universal pay video distribution platform for telecom operators and content providers. Video content owners and producers will access the platform on a PaaS basis, taking advantage of a full spectrum of video distribution services – from processing and storage to copy protection, transmission, as well as a variety of mobile and ground devices – thus saving time and money.
The solution can also pave the way for video content monetization and will “provide a mechanism for content owners to find solvent customers both inside and beyond Russia,” RVC quoted Alexei Teleshev, the director of RVC Seed Fund, as saying.
The partners hope to complete the first stage of the new project within 18 months and then raise a next-phase investment to back the scaling of Sotal-Cloud’s innovative model across Russia and internationally.
