This article was published on July 13, 2012

Second-screen platform Wywy takes on $3 million funding and boosts its TV show detection tech


Second-screen platform Wywy takes on $3 million funding and boosts its TV show detection tech

German second-screen company Wywy has just closed a funding round of $3 million (€2.5 million), the company announced today. This fresh capital comes from several backers, including investment firm Cipio Partners.

Interestingly, the deal Wywy announced today is as much about funding as it is about establishing a strategic partnership. Following the agreement, Wywy is indeed acquiring the majority of shares in Cipio’s portfolio company Idioma Ltd, which specializes in broadcast TV monitoring and automatic detection technologies.

As you may know, automatic detection is essential to many entertainment-related apps – for instance, this is the technology Shazam uses to tell you what song is playing within a few seconds. This is also true of many second-screen apps, such as TVCheck and IntoNow. As for Idioma, it also uses the audio track to detect which channel a viewer is watching in real-time.

In this context, it is easy to understand why today’s announcement is important for Wywy. Thanks to this partnership and new funding, the Munich-based startup now aims to become a leader in the growing social TV market – not only in Germany, but also across Europe, where it is going live with over 30 channels this summer.

Image credit: Espensorvik

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