Saratoga,
Calif. – Roku, a maker of devices
including a set-top box intended to bring Web video and other online content to
the television, plans to raise $30 million in private funding this quarter and
may go public next year, CEO Anthony Wood told Bloomberg. Previous backer Menlo
Ventures has already signed on to the current funding round; the company has
not yet chosen an investment bank or IPO date. "Obviously our goal is to
go public," Wood told Bloomberg. "If things continue on this
trajectory, I think it would be viable to go public next year."
Wood added
that the company has not sold more than 500,000 of its Roku Digital Video
Player set-top boxes, which help users stream content from services like Netflix
and Amazon to a television.
The company plans to continue to cut prices on the
devices, which currently range in price from $79 to $129.
Wood told Bloomberg
that Roku expects to sell 1 million set-tops this year, and expand the content
available in its new Roku Channel Store — where producers can place content
for sale or create subscription services, with Roku taking a cut of revenues.
Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/u7i59
(Bloomberg)
http://snipurl.com/u7i2w
(NewTeeVee)
