Viddy, the popular iPhone app for sharing 15-second video snippets, is getting a boost from celebrity associates who bring undisclosed amounts of funding along with their fame.
The company announced that its most recent investors and partners include: Overbrook Entertainment, the production company co-founded by actor/producer/musician Will Smith and manager James Lassiter; Roc Nation, the artist management company co-founded by musician/producer/entrepreneur Jay-Z; and superstar singer/songwriter Shakira (pictured).
Viddy co-founder Brett O’Brien told the New York Times that he hoped the involvement of musicians like Shakira and Rihanna would broaden the application’s use among their fan bases, which number in the tens of millions. “Shakira has 40 million fans on Facebook and she is huge in Latin America,” he was quoted as saying. “I’m pretty sure this will help us get bigger in Latin America.”
Other investors whose fans are less likely to put their posters up include Twitter co-founder Biz Stone, Omniture founder Josh James, Skull Candy chairman Jeff Kearl, ShoeDazzle founder Brian Lee, professional skateboarder Rob Dyrdek, and FC Barcelona soccer star Gerard Piqué.
Viddy also said it adds an average of 300,000 users a day, for a total of 10 million registered users so far. In addition to its stellar roster of investors, Viddy’s growing success has been accelerated by its integration with Facebook’s Open Graph platform for Timeline and Ticker in February.
Related links:
Viddy – official site
New York Times’ Bits – Viddy, a Video-Sharing App, Attracts Biz Stone and Shakira as Backers
VentureBeat – Viddy adds 5.5M users in 11 days, signs on celebrity investors and partners
PaidContent – Video-sharing app Viddy now backed by Jay-Z, Biz Stone
Overbrook Entertainment – official site
Roc Nation – official site
