SAN FRANCISCO-- (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Kyte [1] today announced it has raised $15 million in a second round of funding. The round was led by Telefónica, the world’s fourth largest global telecommunications firm, with Nokia Growth Partners, the global private equity and venture capital management arm of Nokia, and DoCoMo Capital, Inc., a wholly owned U.S. subsidiary of NTT DoCoMo, Inc., the leading mobile communication company based in Japan, also participating. Other investors in this round include Swisscom, Holtzbrinck Ventures and Draper Fisher Jurveston.

The investments from these global wireless leaders will serve to further the development and distribution of Kyte’s award-winning social communications platform. Kyte itself is not a destination, but an enabling communications platform that allows partners, through a Kyte-powered service, to offer users an easy way to share pictures and video from their mobile phone or the web that are instantly broadcast to multiple destinations, including websites, blogs, social networks and other mobile phones. For example, multi-platinum selling hip-hop artist and mogul 50 Cent uses Kyte [2] to broadcast exclusive behind-the-scenes footage captured with a Nokia N95 from his latest world tour to multiple official and fan-run websites, and other mobile phones. Using Kyte, fans interact with 50 Cent on the web and their mobile phones through multimedia chat and share their own videos and photos with him and each other.

“Kyte is proud to be working with world leaders in the wireless industry who share in our vision for the future of social communications and creating compelling new ways for consumers to connect with each other,” said Daniel Graf, co-founder and CEO of Kyte. “Through partner integrations we have the potential to reach a massive audience and build a global communications network.”

Investor Comments about Kyte

“We see Kyte as a strategic investment because they have created a platform that brings together social networking and mobile services in a way that has never been done before,” said Russ Shaw, Director of Innovation at Telefónica. “Working together we can offer our customers a Kyte-powered service that brings together web-based and mobile communications in new and compelling ways. We look forward to working closely with Kyte to help the company to thrive and expand globally.”

“We have always been at the forefront of mobile innovation in Japan and are excited to be investing in Kyte, a company that is pushing the boundaries of advancement in mobile communications,” said Nobuyuki Akimoto, President and CEO of DoCoMo Capital. “Increasingly, we are finding that users want new and creative ways to connect with one another and Kyte enables them to do just that, anytime and anywhere.”

“We are investing in Kyte because we see them as a groundbreaking company, tying together multimedia creation and consumption in real-time across multiple platforms,” said Rob Trice of Nokia Growth Partners. “Kyte sits at the crossroads of multiple trends in consumer-generated content and we are excited to be a part of the growth of this innovative company.”

About Kyte

The Kyte social communications platform enables partners – including media companies, social networks and mobile operators – to offer their users an easy way to create embedded interactive channels and produce multimedia shows in real-time from their mobile phones or the web that are broadcast to multiple destinations including social networks, blogs and other mobile phones. Using the hosted platform and developer API, Kyte partners provide their users with an exciting way to stay connected through a next-generation social communications experience. For more information, please visit: http://www.kyte.tv [3].

The service is operated by decentral.tv, a San Francisco-based company backed by global investors, including Atomico (co-founded by Niklas Zennström), Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Draper Richards, Ron Conway, Telefónica, Nokia Growth Partners, DoCoMo Capital, Swisscom, Holtzbrinck Ventures and leading European angel investors.

Kyte

Gannon Hall, +1-415-986-4794

press@kyte.tv [4]

or

Horn Group

Shelley Risk, +1-415-905-4037

srisk@horngroup.com [5]