Movieclips Raises $18.5 Million, Changes Name To Zefr As It Adds Sports, TV And Music
Movieclips, the search engine for film fanatics that lets you watch your favorite movie scenes on the web, has just expanded beyond movies. Today they announce that they have raised $18.5 million and are changing their name to Zefr as they expand into music, sports and television.
Movieclips, the search engine for film fanatics that lets you watch your favorite movie scenes on the web, has just expanded beyond movies. Today they announce that they have raised $18.5 million and are changing their name to Zefr as they expand into music, sports and television.
Movieclips has become one of the most-watched YouTube channels, at over 600 million monthly views, thanks to its catalogue of over 25,000 HD movie clips from the libraries of all six major Hollywood studios. Now that they’ve dominated movies, they’re looking to dominate television, music and sports as well.
According to a press release published on AllThingsD, “In addition, the company has announced that it has raised $18.5 million in Series C financing, led by U.S. Venture Partners with participation from existing investors MK Capital, Shasta Ventures, SoftTech VC, First Round Capital, Richmond Park Partners, and Machinima CEO Allen DeBevoise. John Hadl of U.S. Venture Partners will join the board. The new capital will be used to drive the company’s rapid growth in its new music, sports and television verticals, expand internationally and invest in new technology.”
The new Zefr website will be hosted at zefrinc.com. Currently there is a space holding slideshow with information about the company with no word on when the television, sports and music clips will hit the air.
Zefr co-founder Zach James says, “As movie fans ourselves, this was a logical place for us to focus when we set out to create a content network. Since then, we have built a network that brings the best movie content in the world to YouTube—something we believe has significant value for consumers and advertisers alike.” It will be interesting to see whether the company has the same success with their venture into these new categories.
Not familiar with Movieclips? Check out the video below to see how the service works and browse movie scenes according to movie title. Pretty fun stuff!
Megan O’Neill is the resident web video enthusiast here at Social Times. Megan covers everything from the latest viral videos to online video news and tips, and has a passion for bizarre, original and revolutionary content and ideas.
