Layer3 TV, a company that dubs itself a ‘next generation cable provider,’ has raised $21 million in a Series A round led by North Bridge Venture Partners and Evolution Media Growth Partners, a joint venture between TPG Growth and Evolution Media Capital. Evolution Media Capital is a CAA-backed investment bank while TPG Growth is an investment arm of TPG Capital, the private equity firm that owns a minority stake in CAA.
Layer3 TV has disclosed few details about how it will help usher cable into its next era, but it has been up and running for some time. It chose to reveal its funding Thursday.
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Companies such as Aereo and YouTube have set out to either reimagine TV or disrupt the way traditional business is done, but those close to the company insist it is “friendly” to the existing ecosystem and that advertising will serve as a foundation of its business. Layer3 TV’s founding team consists of executives with strong track records in television. CEO Jeff Binder founded Broadbus Technolgoies, a company that helped pioneer the notion of TV on-demand – watching TV when you want as opposed to live.
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CTO Dave Fellows was CTO at both Comcast and ATT Broadband. Chuck Hasek, head of video technology, helped build Time Warner Cable’s video technology, while Eric Kuhn, head of marketing, ran social media at CNN before serving as Hollywood’s first social media agent at UTA. He represented corporate clients while also helping bridge the gap between Hollywood talent and technology firms. And then there’s Vic Odryna, who will be the head of product development.
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Here’s what Binder had to say about his company:
“In today’s connected world the television is becoming more than just a leanback experience — it is becoming the hub for state of the art technology in the living room. Layer3 TV merges the television experience with consumers’ digital lives in ways that engage and enhance the programming and distribution ecosytems.”
Layer3 TV is based in Boston at the moment, but should soon relocate to Denver.