iWidgets Lands $4 Million to Help Publishers Reach Millions of Online Consumers Through Social Syndication
iWidgets introduces next-generation technology platform for taking media publisher's content to the places where people are spending time online
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- iWidgets, the Social Syndication
Company(TM), has raised $4.1 million in Series A funding led by Opus Capital,
a leading early-stage venture capital firm in Menlo Park, Calif. and
University Venture Fund, a collaborative venture between universities,
students and private equity funds based in Salt Lake City, Utah.
iWidgets today is also announcing the addition of Geoff Katz to the
executive team as vice president of business development and marketing. Katz,
an interactive television industry pioneer and digital media veteran, also
currently serves on the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Board of
Governors. He joins iWidgets after stints with TiVo, DirectTV and brand
experience design agency Method. The timing of iWidgets' Series A funding and
the addition of Katz to the team is a direct result of market demand for new
and creative ways to reach consumers online.
"The audience has shifted to social destinations," said Peter Yared,
iWidgets CEO. "With these new investors, we are positioned to radically change
the way publishers reach their fans online by helping them rapidly join the
social media revolution at a massively reduced cost."
iWidgets' proven Social Syndication technology is a powerful new solution
for publishing content on social sites and portals including Facebook,
MySpace, Hi5, and iGoogle. The iWidgets platform includes easy-to-use wizards
and drag-and-drop creative control that creates fully native applications,
including different formats for walls and canvas pages, and full access to
viral avenues such as newsfeeds and friend lists, opening up a new channel for
monetizing content -- including online video -- on social networks. By
embedding native applications on the networks where the most people are
spending their time, building brand awareness online becomes achievable even
while the effectiveness of banner ads continues to slump.
"Major media companies, music companies, retailers, technology companies
and enterprises understand the power and reach they can achieve through a
truly social application," said Ken Elefant, a general partner of Opus Capital
and member of the iWidgets board of directors. "Peter Yared is an experienced
entrepreneur we have enjoyed knowing for years. Our investment will help
iWidgets deliver on its promise to bring content to people where they live
online and to drive social interaction in an effective way."
"We've seen consumer traffic to destination websites flat-lining, but time
spent on social networking platforms like Facebook and MySpace has continued
to skyrocket," Katz said. "The iWidgets platform creates a new model for
television shows and other kinds of media to reach an audience online and to
go viral with messages and promotions by tapping into the social graph."
The iWidgets Social Syndication Platform is the only solution that offers
full customization of widgets as well as native deployment into social
networks. Other solutions do not help in the construction of widgets and rely
on Flash rather than deep integration into the native dialects of each
destination. iWidgets creates an untapped value proposition for viral content
sharing.
iWidgets' patent-pending WidgetWORA(TM) (Write Once Run Anywhere)
technology publishes each application as a real, native widget on each
destination at a dramatically lower cost than with custom programming. These
native applications fit the look of each website, integrate data such as
social graphs and profile information, and leverage viral channels such as
newsfeeds and invitations.
About iWidgets
iWidgets, the social syndication company, helps content publishers
syndicate and monetize content deeply into social networks and portals. The
iWidgets Social Syndication Platform offers easy-to-use wizards and
drag-and-drop creative to quickly deliver engaging custom widgets that publish
as fully native applications on each destination, integrated with viral
channels and social graphs. iWidgets was founded in 2007 with the vision of
spreading interactive content via emerging small form platforms including
social networks, portals, mobile devices, and next generation set top boxes.
The company is funded by Opus Capital and University Venture Fund. For more
information, visit http://www.iwidgets.com.
About Opus Capital
Opus Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm with more than $1
billion of committed capital under management, investing in committed, high
integrity entrepreneurs building market-leading technology companies. The team
has participated in the successful outcomes of more than 80 companies
(including 50 IPOs) in the U.S. and in Israel including Adaptec, AirGate PCS,
BlueNile, Brocade, Ciena, DoubleClick, Electronics for Imaging, FedEx,
Genesys, Harmonic, Informatica, Kidaro and Vantive. Opus Capital is
headquartered on Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park, California. For more
information, visit http://www.opuscapital.com.
