Chute, the Y Combinator-backed company that helps content producers and app developers to include photo functions, today announced it has secured a $2.7 million new round of early stage venture funding led by Freestyle Capital.
Also participating were Battery Ventures, USVP and several strategic investors including Salesforce.com; Joe Fernandez and Binh Tran, the CEO and chief technology officer of Klout respectively; and Joshua Reeves, CEO of Zen Payroll. The company will apply the new funds to hiring and investing in sales and marketing.
Chute, which is still in beta, is being used in different ways by companies like NBCNews.com, Today.com, House of Blues Entertainment and L.A. Live. It also was accepted into Turner Broadcasting’s Media Camp accelerator program.
Chute’s cloud-based platform supports image uploading, processing, moderation, third-party API integrations and user authentication. Mikey Kilun, senior manager, Social Media for House of Blues Entertainment, said for example that Chute is powering its user-generate content efforts across several of its social media and web assets, adding to its viral reach, brand awareness and fan engagement.
“As a founder of two successful digital media companies, I got the explosive potential of Chute in the first meeting,” said Josh Felser, Freestyle Capital co-founder. “There is no better way for publishers and brands to add images and related virality to their online experiences and the Chute team knows this space intimately.”
Related links:
Chute – http://www.getchute.com
Chute – press release
TechCrunch – YC-Backed Chute Nabs $2.7M From Salesforce & More To Become The Twilio For Media Content
Venture Beat – Y Combinator startup Chute lands $2.7M, connects dots between developers and media
Freestyle Capital – http://freestyle.vc
