Media startup Watchup receives $1m backing from Microsoft Ventures and its incubator StartX.
Watchup, a Stanford startup, has secured $1m in backing from tech giant Microsoft’s venture arm, Stanford’s incubator StartX, and others.
The California-based company is developing an app for iOS and for Google Glass which collects news videos from around the web into a one-stop portal that can deliver a single news cast from a spectrum of outlets.
Aside from Microsoft Ventures and StartX, where the company was incubated, other backers include the Knight Foundation, Campus Televideo founder Ned Lamont, news producer Tom Yellin, and angel investor Gerry McIntyre. The cash is on top of an angel round Watchup raised in 2012, worth $500,000.
In a post on the company’s website, a spokesperson for Watchup said: “We’re grateful to all of our investors, who give us their time, advice, money and other resources. For instance, Microsoft is partnering with us by sharing funds of course, but they have also committed to helping us build a great company. The Microsoft Ventures initiative provides us the tools, resources and expertise we will need to succeed. With the money we’ve raised we promise to make the app even better, implement some of the features you’ve been asking for, bring on new content partners and continue to grow like wildfire.”
