You.i TV Closes $15 Million Funding Round to Power the Appification of TV
You.i TV is a software company that is reinventing how TV operators and programmers build multiscreen applications.
The funding was led by Los Angeles-based Kayne Partners, the growth private equity group of Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, an alternative investment firm managing over USD $27 billion in assets.
“This is a unique moment in the evolution of television,” said Jason Flick, co-founder and CEO of You.i TV. “Even Apple agrees, saying during its tvOS event last week that ‘the future of TV is apps.’ Everyone in the industry is racing to build direct-to-consumer relationships via applications, but the technical environment is so fragmented that traditional approaches just don’t scale. Our You.i Engine is the missing ingredient broadcasters need to launch truly immersive applications on every screen.”
RELATED: You.i TV Looks to Redefine the User Interface Experience
You.i TV’s product, You.i Engine, is a cross-platform app engine that simplifies and accelerates multi-platform app development. TV companies can use it to build a custom app codebase that ties together all their backend technologies, while giving them unprecedented freedom from traditional front-end constraints.
You.i Engine powers beautiful applications across iOS, tvOS, Android, Amazon Fire, Xbox, PlayStation, Roku, Smart TVs and RDK set-top boxes, all with performance well beyond what’s possible with HTML5 or native OS approaches.
You.i Engine redefines what’s possible in TV app design, thanks to a plugin that allows designers to export visual and motion interface designs directly from leading design tools into production code. This is the technology behind game-changing TV applications for clients including Sony Crackle, Rogers, Corus Entertainment, shomi and more.
“The old way of developing TV applications is broken,” added Flick. “We’ve created a new way that allows you to build interfaces that go beyond the traditional design constraints inherent in OS-specific tools. Our growth and successful multi-platform launches for major TV and media brands validate that this technology delivers on its promises.”
Less than a year after the launch of You.i TV’s first customer-facing app, the company has launched video applications built on You.i Engine for five major brands, including Corus Entertainment and Sony Crackle, with other newsworthy projects underway that are not yet public.
Some of You.i TV’s notable projects include: Crackle’s Roku app, live on millions of Roku devices The TreehouseGO app on iOS and Android, which hit #1 in the kid’s App Store two weeks after launch shomi’s tablet and handset apps featuring equally rich motion interactions on both iOS and Android, from a single You.i Engine codebase.
This funding will help You.i TV create a channel of partner agencies to build multiscreen applications on You.i Engine SDK. You.i TV’s goal is to put the technology into as many hands as possible, because it is truly a revolutionary way to build and maintain multiscreen applications.
