Aereo Receives $34 Million in Additional Financing

NEW YORK: Aereo has closed a $34 million Series C round of financing, which will support the service's expansion across the U.S. and increased investments in hiring and technology.

IAC was joined by media investor Gordon Crawford and Himalaya Capital Management, as well as existing investors Highland Capital Partners, FirstMark Capital and others for this additional round of funding.

Aereo is currently available to residents in New York City, Boston, Atlanta, Miami, Salt Lake City, Houston, Dallas, Denver, Detroit and Baltimore. The controversial service is set to face off with broadcasters in the Supreme Court over its technology, which uses remote, miniature antennas to pull free over-the-air signals from broadcast networks.

“Aereo experienced tremendous growth in 2013 and we expect 2014 to be another blockbuster year,” said Chet Kanojia, Aereo's CEO and founder. “Last year at this time, Aereo was launched in only New York City. Today, Aereo is available in 10 markets and will grow to 15 by the end of the quarter. In 2013, we also launched our first native app for Android, made improvements to enhance the user experience and more than doubled our employee headcount. Consumers are craving choice and options and as a result, we continue to see explosive growth across all our markets.
 
“Aereo has scaled very quickly in 365 days and this additional funding will allow us to maintain this rapid pace of growth. We are thrilled to have a world-class group of investors who believe innovative, cloud-based technologies, like Aereo, are the future,” added Kanojia.