One True Media Gets $5M Funding for Consumer Generated Media Services

WebKnowHow
Monday, June 12, 2006; 02:27 AM

One True Media, an online service for friends and families to easily turn their video, photos, and music into sharable online video stories, announced funding of $5 million from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Since going live in December 2005, over 335,000 people have registered with One True Media, and half of the site’s daily visitors are returning members, uploading, editing and sharing video stories they have set to music. Additionally, One True Media works with established communities, including BabyCenter.com and SixApart/Typepad, to enable members to easily create videos that feed the community with user generated video content.

“Everyday consumers are shooting millions of photos and videos but they have no way to combine all that media into a compelling story that will make their friends or family laugh or cry,” said Mark Moore, CEO, One True Media. “We want to make it easy for people to communicate the emotion that is often hard to see in still photos. We eliminate the complexity of editing and mixing digital media, so that everybody can be the director or star of their own video. They can do it all without software, without editing equipment, and without headaches.”

By tackling the hard task of helping consumers overwhelmed with their own media to easily create professional looking videos online, One True Media is enabling an entire population locked out of the consumer generated media revolution to join in and share their personal stories however it fits their lives – whether that be via MySpace and similar online communities or through a family network.

“One True Media harnesses the best new online technologies to enable people to create and share memories and stories in ways that only experienced professionals could before. Now anyone can quickly and simply bring together their favorite photos, video, music and text into a rich and moving digital production. ” said Randy Komisar, partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. “One True Media allows you to post your creations anywhere on the Web, and productions are popping up everywhere people want to share. Simply click the One True Media button below the screen and the camera starts to roll. It is exciting to be part of a company that empowers people to express themselves in new and creative ways with the media that matters – their own - and to share those creations with the most important social network in world - their family and friends. In time, I believe that One True Media can transform the personal digital media landscape from one of passing scribbles to meaningful keepsakes.”

One True Media offers an unmatched online experience combined with a rich array of customizable DVDs, sharing options and photo book keepsakes so consumers can build, tailor or update their personal video stories with ease. To get started, consumers can upload their photos, video and music files directly to the site or send digital media in all forms to One True Media. Then, with no software to download, they can quickly create stories with the simple but powerful editing tools on the site. Once finished, consumers can share their video stories online via MySpace, Typepad, Xanga and other online communities, email them, or create a personalized DVD or photo book for viewing or giving as gifts.

In addition to reaching consumers directly on the One True Media site, One True Media partners with online community sites to bring a richer multimedia sharing experience to their its users. For established online communities One True Media’s service enables community members to easily create and share their video stories without leaving the site.

Starting this month, BabyCenter, LLC, the leading online resource for new and expectant parents (www.babycenter.com) will provide users access to One True Media, giving them the ability to create and post videos on its popular bulletin boards. One True Media videos are already a hit with this audience – tens of thousands of One True Media videos have already been created by BabyCenter® users who desire a richer form of selfexpression. In March, One True Media and Six Apart, makers of TypePad, announced a new service making it easy for TypePad users to add their video creations to a blog without having to manually copy and paste any video code without having to manually copy and paste any video code.

One True Media was founded by Mark Moore and John Love after they experienced firsthand the difficulties of mixing and sharing video. Ian Lovejoy, previously Chief Technologist at Ofoto, now Kodak Easyshare, joined quickly thereafter to lead the research and development team. The leadership team has experience building businesses and consumer-facing products – hailing from Ofoto, Apple, Netscape, Oracle, Niku, and Listen.com, among others.