Press Release
Nokia Growth Partners invests in Kyte.tv
Kyte.tv announces investment from Nokia Growth Partners, the global private equity and venture capital management arm of Nokia (NYSE:NOK), the world leader in mobility.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – June 12, 2007: Today, kyte.tv announced that it has received investment from Nokia Growth Partners, a global private equity and venture capital management arm of Nokia (NYSE:NOK), the world leader in mobility. The investment will help to further extend the distribution of kyte.tv’s award-winning service that enables users to easily create interactive TV channels online and on the go, which are instantly broadcast to any website, blog, social network, and mobile phone.
The investment from Nokia Growth Partners follows kyte.tv’s recent announcement that it had received an investment from a leading service provider and a media company, Swisscom and Holtzbrinck Ventures, that will provide the company with key distribution channels across Europe.
“This investment is of great strategic importance to kyte.tv. We are proud to have the combination of a media company, a service provider, and the world’s number one device manufacturer investing in our company. This provides us with key access to distribution across Europe and beyond,” said Daniel Graf, co-founder and CEO of kyte.tv. “Through their mobile devices, Nokia provides people with a wide range of experiences in mobile video, television, music, and imaging. This partnership allows kyte.tv to enrich this experience even more.”
Swisscom's subsidiary Swisscom Mobile is the first mobile network operator to offer kyte.tv within its product portfolio. Earlier this year the companies started a limited free user trial, enabling its customers to use kyte Mobile without additional data fees for the time of the trial.
“An investment in kyte.tv is a logical step in driving the transformation and growth of the converging Internet and communications industries. kyte.tv is a great manifestation of this vision to bring together social networking, user-generated content, and mobile services,” said Rob Trice of Nokia Growth Partners. “We are pleased to be working with such an innovative company and look forward to helping kyte.tv grow its audience globally.”
About kyte.tv
kyte.tv is the first service to bring together user-generated content, mobile, the Internet, and TV to allow consumers to create their own interactive TV channels and make them accessible by mobile, PC, and eventually on TV. The service is accessible via www.kyte.tv. The service is operated by decentral.tv, a San Francisco-based company backed by global investors, including: Atomico (co-founded by Niklas Zennström), Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Draper Richards, Ron Conway, Swisscom, and Holtzbrinck Ventures. kyte was recently presented with the prestigious Red Herring 100 Award.
Media Inquiries
Kathy Johnson, Consort Partners kyte@consortpartners.com | Tel: +1 415 823 9566
Nokia Growth Partners
Nokia Growth Partners is a diversified institutional investment management firm headquartered in Menlo Park, CA. It is fully funded by Nokia with USD200M under management. Nokia Growth Partners invests globally directly into growth stage technology companies as a Venture Capital Fund and participates as a limited partner in select venture capital and private equity funds with its Fund of Funds program. Nokia Growth Partners is funded by Nokia to provide superior returns and investments into companies, firms, and people that are changing the face of mobility, communications, and the internet. For more information visit www.nokiagrowthpartners.com
Media Inquiries
Charles Chopp, Nokia Americas
communication.corp@nokia.com | Tel: +1 972 894 4573
