Ottawa’s Nuvyyo Announces $4 Million Funding Round, Initiates Crowdfunding

Ottawa-based Over-the-Air (OTA) HDTV startup Nuvyyo announced this week that earlier in the year Celtic House Ventures committed $4 million in funding for the company to “revolutionize the home media experience.”

Its “Tablo” is the first solution to combine the functionality of a digital video recorder (DVR) with the convenience and mobility of a tablet-based app to browse, record and stream broadcast TV content to any device, anytime, anywhere. Essentially, the company is “cutting the cord,” where people won’t rely on cable cords and satellites anymore.

“We are transforming today’s home media experience by delivering a better way to enjoy network and local programming in gorgeous HD, anywhere you happen to be,” said CEO Grant Hall. “For TV lovers, Tablo takes away the fear of “cord-cutting” by perfecting the user experience with our tablet app and delivering the DVR functionality everyone knows and loves.”

Nuyyo said it replaces the need for a traditional DVR, taking free OTA HDTV to “a new level through its visually rich, interactive tablet app.” Consumers schedule and view recordings in Tablo’s comprehensive guide, while the Tablo app works on iPad and Android tablets, with playback and live TV available for iPhone and Android smartphones, PCs and Macs, and on TV screens via Apple TV, Roku, or Google Chromecast.

It might seem initially odd that a startup is both announcing a $4 million funding round and also launching a crowdfunding effort, but thats what Nuvyyo is doing. The company said pledges raised during the Indiegogo project will be used to fund initial production runs of the hardware so that the $4 million in venture backing “can be earmarked for sales and marketing support of the general product launch in the U.S. and Canadian markets.”

The product should be available in early 2014 and that’s where the Indiegogo project will help, in gathering beta testers and early adopters.

“The TV industry is in an exciting period of innovation with a diversity of new services and business models. Internet-based video is taking off and free OTA HDTV, with better quality than satellite or cable, is now widely available,” said Celtic House’s Brian Antonen. “We believe Nuvyyo has the right mix of technology and expertise to address these trends with a solution that adds free broadcast TV to the internet video experience so that live and recorded HDTV can be enjoyed on mobile devices as well as the traditional big screen TV.”

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