Earthnoise
Operator of an internet community bringing various interest groups together to interact and exchange information.
| Date | Investors | Amount | Round |
|---|---|---|---|
| investor investor | €0.0 | round | |
N/A | Acquisition | ||
| Total Funding | 000k | ||
Earthnoise.com emerged in June 1999 as a pioneering platform for online video sharing, a precursor to modern user-generated content sites. Founded by Elan Dekel, the company aimed to provide a service for users with webcams and consumer-grade camcorders to easily upload, edit, and share their videos online. This was during an era of slow dial-up internet connections, making the concept particularly forward-thinking.
The company secured significant financial backing, raising $7.6 million in its first funding round from investors including America Online (AOL), Audax Group, Attractor Investors, and Pario Ventures. At its peak, Earthnoise had grown to nearly 100 employees with offices in Tel Aviv, New York, and San Francisco and had formed strategic partnerships with AOL and Real Networks. The platform successfully attracted a community of several thousand video contributors, generating hundreds of thousands of monthly hits. Users could not only share and view videos but also engage in discussions around the content.
Recognizing the commercial potential of its technology, Earthnoise expanded its business model in late 2000 to include a hosting service for small businesses. This application service provider (ASP) component offered businesses tools for uploading, encoding, and editing their video assets. A business package was available for $49.95 per month, which included 200MB of storage and unlimited streaming integrated into the client's website. The company also offered a mail-in encoding service. Despite some paying customers and an active member base, the company struggled to generate sufficient revenue in the short term. The bursting of the dot-com bubble ultimately led to the company's downfall, as it was too far ahead of the widespread availability of broadband internet and 3G mobile technology needed for its vision to be fully realized. In 2001, after laying off most of its 50 employees, Earthnoise.com's customer base and a portion of its technology were acquired by CastUP, a developer of multimedia IP streaming technology, for a few hundred thousand dollars.
Keywords: online video sharing, user-generated content, video hosting, video editing online, dot-com bubble, early internet startup, video streaming technology, Elan Dekel, AOL investment, Real Networks partnership, digital media history, video community, ASP model, video encoding service, CastUP acquisition, Israel tech startup, Time Warner investment, entertainment media ventures, Pario Ventures, Audax Group