Vuze, Inc. Secures $20 Million in New Round of Funding Led by Top Tier Investors

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Vuze, the rapidly growing high-res IPTV platform, with an installed base of 15 million client downloads, announced it has secured $20 million in its C round of funding. This round is led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA), with existing investors Redpoint Ventures, Greycroft Partners, BV Capital, and Jarl Mohn participating. As a result of the investment, TiVo Co-Founder and former CEO Mike Ramsay joins the Vuze Board of Directors.

“In January 2007, we launched Vuze, which has achieved tremendous organic consumer adoption. Over the course of the year, we closed more than 100 premium content partnerships, while opening our platform to maverick content creators everywhere,” said Gilles BianRosa, CEO of Vuze, Inc. “This funding round will enable us to capitalize on the significant consumer adoption of our platform in the US & Europe, to continue to enhance our innovative product, and to further engage our loyal and passionate global user base, all while remaining true to our vision of an open, global platform for immersive high-quality entertainment.”

“In my view, Vuze is the most exciting company in the online media space today and is leading the charge to create a truly compelling internet entertainment experience,” said Mike Ramsay, Venture Partner at NEA. "Further, with the fastest growth of any online media company, the team has proven they can set aggressive goals and beat them. NEA is very excited to support Vuze’s goals and anticipates its major impact in the global entertainment space going forward.”

Vuze Completes Management Team

In addition to its latest round of funding, Vuze has made key executive hires to complete its management team. The new team has been hand-picked from industry-leading companies – including eBay and Microsoft – to accelerate business growth:

• Jim Diaz, Sr. Vice President, Advertising Sales – Diaz is a veteran of the advertising sales industry. Diaz spent 12 years in television advertising, including NBC. Diaz is also a pioneer of the Internet advertising industry, serving as the founding sales executive of Excite.com, revolutionizing the way advertisers buy media, and scaling Excite’s revenue from $0 to $250 million dollars.
• Rick Phillips, Sr. Vice President, Content – Phillips joins Vuze from Microsoft’s Entertainment & Devices Division, where he managed video licensing and key deals for the introduction of the Xbox Live Video Marketplace service. Prior to Microsoft, Phillips led Gemstar-TV Guide’s international cable and satellite services business, and held executive roles at Liberty Global, Liberty Media Corporation, and MGM.
• John Fernandes, Vice President of Marketing – Fernandes joins Vuze from eBay where he led Global Marketing and Research, Global Brand Management, Category Marketing, and Community Marketing. Prior to his 6 years at eBay, Fernandes held marketing and brand leadership roles at Sapient and Levi Strauss & Co.
• Jay Monahan, General Counsel – Monahan joins Vuze from eBay where he was Vice President, Deputy General Counsel, Intellectual Property, responsible for litigation and architect of eBay’s worldwide copyright compliance program. Prior to his 8 years at eBay, Monahan served as Vice President, Worldwide Anti-Piracy for Walt Disney Pictures and Television.

Vuze Board of Directors

As a result of the investment from NEA, TiVo Co-Founder and former CEO Mike Ramsay will join the Vuze Board of Directors. Other Members of the Board include Chris Moore from Redpoint Ventures, Mathias Schilling from Bertelsmann Ventures and BV Capital, Jarl Mohn, Chairman of CNET, Olivier Chalouhi, CTO and Co-Founder, and Gilles BianRosa, CEO and Co-Founder.

Vuze investors have backed such innovative, industry-defining companies as Apple, MySpace, Netflix, and Tivo, WebEx.

About NEA

New Enterprise Associates, Inc. (NEA) is a leading venture capital firm focused on helping entrepreneurs create and build major new enterprises that use technology to improve the way we live, work and play. Since its founding in 1978, the firm has adhered to the same core principles: supporting its entrepreneurs, providing an excellent return to its limited partners, and operating in accordance with the highest standards of integrity and respect. NEA focuses on investments at all stages of a company’s development, from seed stage through IPO. With approximately $8.5 billion in capital committed to its affiliated funds, NEA’s experienced management team has invested in more than 550 companies, of which more than 160 have gone public and more than 230 have been acquired. NEA has U.S.-based offices in Baltimore, Maryland; Chevy Chase, Maryland; and Menlo Park, California. In addition, New Enterprise Associates (India) Pvt. Ltd. has an office in Bangalore, India and New Enterprise Associates (Beijing) Ltd. has offices in Beijing and Shanghai, China. For additional information, visit www.nea.com.

About Vuze

Vuze is the world's most popular entertainment platform for DVD-quality and HD video content. With an installed base of 15 million unique client downloads in its first 11 months, 500,000 new viewers joining per week and more than 100 content partners to date, Vuze is experiencing unprecedented organic growth. Vuze attracts and features high quality content from a growing roster of global television networks, premier production studios and thousands of maverick content creators, on the most advanced, most open entertainment platform ever created. Vuze is a Red Herring 100 Award Winner, recently named one of the top 100 tech startups of 2007. Vuze, Inc, formerly known as Azureus, Inc., is headquartered in Palo Alto, with offices in Los Angeles and New York.