Social television firm GetGlue has secured a $12 million round of financing led by new investor Rho Ventures, with participation from existing investors TimeWarner, RRE Ventures, and Union Square Ventures. Habib Kairouz, managing partner at Rho Ventures will join GetGlue’s board of directors.
The funding will be used to enable check-ins from more third party applications and web sites, along with other initiatives to enhance personalization for consumers and customization for business customers.
GetGlue also went live with updates to its iPhone app and GetGlue.com web site, which now include a visual stream of check-ins, the ability to participate in multiple conversations, and a personalized recommendation feature called Guides.
The company used this opportunity to share some metrics about its previous 12 months. During 2011, GetGlue’s user base exceeded 2 million, accounting for more than 100 million check-ins. Some of this activity comes from a growing number of apps that have embedded GetGlue, in particular DirecTV.
GetGlue reports its marketing dashboard is being used to monitor analytics by ABC, CW, Fox and NBC as well as cable networks including A&E, ABC Family, AMC, Bravo, CNN, Discovery, Food Network, FX, HBO, MTV, Showtime, TNT and USA. In addition to monitoring, these users also implement GetGlue’s check-in based fan recognition and reward system on 680 programs.
“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to partner with Rho Ventures” said Alex Iskold, founder and chief executive officer of GetGlue. “In 2011 GetGlue emerged as a leader in the new and rapidly growing social television space. With this funding, GetGlue will continue to play a market defining role as social television goes mainstream.”
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Photo by Flickr user martinbowling, used under Creative Commons license
