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WTI has been a valuable partner to Youku as we have grown over the years.  They really took the time to understand our business, which was important to us since we are a China-based company.

Victor Koo
CEO, Youku.com (NYSE: YOKU)

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WTI is a terrific and exceptionally responsive partner. Throughout the relationship I dealt with a decision-maker who provided me quick and candid feedback, which enabled me to maximize the time I devoted to running my business. Given my positive experience with the firm, I highly recommend WTI to any company seeking the highest quality capital partner.

Victor Jablokov
President & COO, Yap

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It can be challenging as a first time CEO to navigate venture waters, and WTI has consistently provided strong support and seasoned guidance at each stage of our growth. WTI has been an excellent partner and integral part of the FanBridge story.

Spencer Richardson
CEO & Co-founder, FanBridge.com

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WTI's growth capital gave us extra time to assemble the best possible investors in our Series B financing.

Keegan Harper
CEO, Cameron Health (Acquired by Boston Scientific)

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As a public company, we had many financing options available to us. We were very impressed with how WTI worked with us on the $15 million debt instrument that we announced in conjunction with our recent follow-on offering.

Tim Lynch
CFO, Tercica

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WTI's growth capital has been an important part of the capital structure, and strategic planning, of several of our portfolio companies.

Beckie Robertson
Partner, Versant Ventures

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WTI played an integral role in financing the early development at Ablation Frontiers in conjunction with our Series A equity. They are a great partner.

Keegan Harper
CEO, Ablation Frontiers

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WTI was a great, dependable partner to Plaxo, from the early days of our build out through our successful sale to Comcast. Through multiple stages of debt financing, we found them to be level-headed, flexible and responsive. Not only was their venture debt model a terrific fit - their people have all the right characteristics for a dynamic industry such as ours.

Ben Golub
CEO, Plaxo (acquired by Comcast)

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WTI's $25 million commitment was a key component of our financing strategy on the runway to an IPO. The strength of the firm's history and reliability of its capital were keys to selecting WTI as our debt partner.

William Moffitt
President and CEO, Nanosphere [NSPH]

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It was important for Neutral Tandem to choose a reliable financing partner who could scale with us.  WTI provided us with financing early in our development, and has continually been able to meet our funding needs as our business grew.

Rob Junkroski
CFO, Neutral Tandem (NASDAQ: TNDM)

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Given the strong trajectory of our business, we were fortunate to have a number of firms interested in working with us.  After a fair amount of referencing with our existing investors and other entrepreneurs, we chose to work with WTI given their long history as a firm with the patience and risk tolerance for long-term value creation.  WTI understands our business at a fundamental level and has been terrific to work with from first meeting to funding.

Jasper Malcolmson
CEO, Bloomspot

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WTI's capital came into IronPort at an important time early in the company's development - we really enjoyed working with the WTI team.

Scott Weiss
CEO, IronPort Systems (acquired by Cisco Systems)

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WTI committed meaningful capital to Polyserve at a time when our business was nearing an inflection point and we were also outgrowing our incumbent debt source. The additional time allowed us to benefit from the solid progress we were making in the business by raising our final round at a significantly increased valuation. The firm's stability and scalability make them a strong partner for venture backed companies of all sizes.

Michael Stankey
Former CEO & President, PolyServe, Inc. (acquired by Hewlett-Packard Company)

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WTI played a pivotal role in working with our team and investors. Without their assistance, we would not be the successful, publicly traded company we are today.

William (B.J.) Lehmann
President and COO, Athersys (NASDAQ: ATHX)

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WTI appreciates how businesses change over time. Their flexibility was important to our initial relationship together. As Molecular Imprints has grown, WTI has scaled with us and provided substantial follow-on financing to meet our evolving needs.

Norman E. Schumaker
President and CEO, Molecular Imprints

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WTI has provided funding to more than ten Founders Fund companies. We consider them to be a valuable partner and love working with them.

Luke Nosek
Managing Partner, Founders Fund

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WTI provided $11 million to WWP at a critical inflection point for the company. We had a new product we were bringing to market which became the foundation of our successful acquisition by Ciena. The debt capital and support from our existing investors allowed us more time to win large carrier contracts and improve our position with potential acquirers.

Matt Frey
COO, World Wide Packets (acquired by Ciena)

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Our long-standing relationship with WTI has given us first-hand experience with how consistent and valuable they are as a partner, especially in challenging macroeconomic times.  WTI has been a strategic source of capital that we have relied on to help grow our business.

Jim Imbler
CEO, ZeaChem

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During Juniper's earliest days, it was comforting to know we were working with a debt partner of the same caliber and mindset as our VC investors.

Scott Kriens
President & CEO, Juniper Networks (NASDAQ: JNPR)

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WTI provided valuable capital to Sierra Logic as our company continued to grow. Their three commitments (totaling $7.8 million) provided the additional runway we needed to get to profitability without having to raise additional equity.

Bob Whitson
CEO, Sierra Logic (acquired by Emulex)

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WTI made a commitment to Brocade when the company was still unproven; their capital had a meaningful impact on growing the business.

Bruce Bergman
Former CEO, Brocade Communications (NASDAQ: BRCD)

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WTI's capital came at a critical juncture for the company as we began our initial product launch. The runway the facility provided gave us additional time to demonstrate our technology, culminating in our acquisition by AOL.

Eric Engstrom
CEO, Wildseed

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In every company I've started or been a part of, I come across a subset of folks that I know I'll call without hesitation in my next company, and WTI is one of those companies.

Doug Camplejohn
CEO, Mi5 Networks

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This is my second start-up and my second time working with WTI.  WTI certainly provides capital that is helpful in growing a business. But even more so, being able to do business with people you can trust is critical to us.  We work with WTI because of the value of our relationship.

Brent Dusing
Founder & CEO, Hexify

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Over the past 4 years we have worked with WTI on 3 separate lending transactions totaling $15.5 million. They have proven to be strong financial partners and particularly responsive at critical times when we most needed their support.

Michael Maulick
CEO, Platform Solutions

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This is the third company that I have founded, and in each case, I have worked with WTI because of their integrity and flexibility.

Christopher McCleary
Chairman & CEO, Evergreen Assurance

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I have had a positive experience working with WTI at three different companies. WTI consistently delivered as promised and showed considerable flexibility to meet our unique business requirements. After 25-years of working in Silicon Valley, I can attest to the importance of smart money.

Steve Wong
CFO, Rainfinity (acquired by EMC)

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I have worked with WTI in two of my companies, and their capital works as advertised; it is truly usable and provides real value. The WTI team is used to the challenges of operating in a start-up environment, so they have steady hands. I would be pleased to work with them again.

Bernard Harguindeguy
CEO, Atlantis Computing and GreenBorder Technologies

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As Skystream entered the critical expansion phase of its growth as a private company, WTI provided us the capital cushion we needed to maximize our market opportunity

Joseph Geesman
CFO and Vice President of Operations, SkyStream Networks (acquired by Tandberg Television)

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We chose WTI over other lenders because they had great local references in the New York City metro area and are well known for their ability to scale with companies over time.  We always dealt with a highly responsive decision maker from first engagement through funding, and would highly recommend them to any of our business partners.

Gauthereau Guillaume
CEO, Totsy

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We chose to work with WTI rather than a bank because their deal structure was more flexible and it really allowed us to use the money.

Vivek Ragavan
CEO, Atrica

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Home > News > Press Releases > Ustream Raises $11.1 M in Funding Led by DCM

Press Releases

Ustream Raises $11.1 M in Funding Led by DCM

Internet Broadcasting Platform Announces More Than 260,000 Broadcasters and Delivers Over 2 Million Viewer Hours per Month

Ustream.TV (www.ustream.tv), the leading internet broadcasting platform, today announced it has secured $11.1 million in Series A funding from leading venture capital firm DCM and existing investors, Labrador Ventures and The Band of Angels. The funding will enable Ustream to accelerate product development and meet growing market demand for an interactive, broadcasting platform.

“A few years ago, it was unimaginable to have interactive broadcasting on the scale that Ustream delivers today. This marks a major shift of online entertainment and it reflects a new desire to interact and be a part of the show, rather than to just consume it,” said Gen Isayama of DCM. “Investing in Ustream was a decision based on the company’s technology, pioneering vision, and track record for consistently delivering enhancements that are attracting broadcasters and engaging millions of viewers.”

“Live, interactive broadcasting is an emerging form of media on the Web. Ustream is bridging the gap between the content creator and the audience by allowing the audience to interact and be a part of the show — a clear evolution from the traditional mode of passive content consumption. This financing will allow us to accelerate our current trajectory. We are excited to be working with DCM toward that vision,” said John Ham, Ustream’s Chairman and Founder.

Ustream’s easy-to-use, reliable and scalable broadcasting platform has experienced remarkable adoption in one year since its beta launch. The open platform has already registered over 260,000 broadcasters, including Presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain, entertainers Johnny Knoxville and Chris Brown, as well as technology and business leaders broadcasting a wide range of interactive events. Successful partnerships with Bebo, Veoh, Digg, Meebo, Sun Microsystems and the Republican National Convention have both validated and expanded Ustream’s success in online broadcasting.

“Our users and partners, whether broadcasting to ten or hundreds of thousands of viewers, trust Ustream’s world class infrastructure for their prized content and events. On our part, we’ve been amazed by the sheer range of successful content our creators have broadcasted employing the Ustream platform. This funding will enable us to build out the infrastructure to support more partners, bigger partners, more users, and an unlimited audience,” says Brad Hunstable, Founder of Ustream.

Ustream Growth Metrics

Since launching its public Beta in March 2007, Ustream has experienced exponential growth. In only a year since its launch, Ustream has generated:

* 260,000+ broadcasters
* Over 2.2 million unique viewers per month
* 75,000–120,000 viewer hours per day
* 10,000+ hours of live streaming content per day
* 350,000+ hours of live streamed programming per month
* 8,000-10,000 broadcasts per day
* 400 - 600 concurrent streams at any given moment

About Ustream

Ustream is the leading internet broadcasting platform. Ustream’s proprietary technology powers an easy-to-use, web-based interface, allowing anyone with a camera, computer and Internet connection to broadcast live to the world. Integrated with a host of interactive tools including chat rooms, co-host, and shout meter, Ustream’s platform delivers real-time, social experiences on the web. Since its beta launch in March 2007, Ustream has grown to 260,000 registered users broadcasting 8,000 – 10,000 live shows a day. Ustream.TV is headquartered in Los Altos, California, and is privately held. For more information, please visit: www.ustream.tv.

About DCM

DCM is an early stage venture capital firm supporting entrepreneurs building world-class technology companies. The firm’s partners manage US$1.6 billion and have funded leading technology companies including 2Wire, 51job (Nasdaq:JOBS), @Motion (Openwave), About.com (The New York Times Co.), All About (Jasdaq:2454), Arroyo (Cisco), Bittorrent, Clearwire (Nasdaq:CLWR), Dang Dang, eDreams (TA), Foundry Networks (Nasdaq:FDRY), HireRight (Nasdaq:HIRE), Internap (Nasdaq:INAP), IPivot (Intel), JCI (Nasdaq Japan - Hercules:9424), Neopath Networks (Cisco), Neutral Tandem (Nasdaq:TNDM), nQuire (Siebel), PGP Corporation, Recourse Technologies (Symantec), Sigmatel (Nasdaq:SGTL), SMIC (NYSE:SMI), Sling Media (EchoStar), VanceInfo (NYSE:VIT) and Vimicro (Nasdaq:VIMC). DCM offers hands-on operational guidance and access to an extensive network of resources, including close relationships with many of the Pacific Rim’s leading companies and investors. For more information, please visit DCM’s website at www.dcm.com.