The Hindu Business Line : Sling Media gets funding; to grow R&D centre here

SLING Media, which has received $10.5 million in venture funding from Mobius Venture Capital, DCM-Doll Capital Management and an undisclosed strategic investor, is planning its R&D to happen out of Bangalore and expects the India centre to grow to 100 people in 12-18 months.

"We have had R&D teams in Bangalore and the Bay Area from the very start and expect to double the strength in Bangalore to 30 people in six months and then to 100," the CEO and co-founder, Mr Blake Krikorian, told Business Line.

The US operations would focus on business development, and Bangalore will focus on product development.

The company which started up last year employs 25 people in all and would soon bring out the SlingBox personal broadcaster in the US market, that lets people watch streaming television live on wired or wireless devices, from anywhere in the world.

"Bangalore has been an important part of our operations and now that we have received venture funding, it will play a very important role in the development of newer products ," said Mr Bhupen Shah, Chief Operating Officer, who founded digital media companies Dazzle and Emuzed.

Mr Shah joined with Mr Krikorian to become the co-founder and COO of Sling Media last fiscal by merging his year-old digital home and convergence technologies company, DiTango.

Sling Media, which has been featured in Forbes' 2004 list of hot technology start-ups, plans to bring out a number of digital media products , Mr Krikorian said. Just as VCR lets people watch TV content when they wanted to by letting them save it, the SlingBox Personal Broadcaster lets one watch the cable TV wherever you are `live' on your handheld or TiVo," Mr Krikorian said.