RED HERRING | TV Search Firm Gets $6.5M

"MeeVee, a television search company, received an infusion of $6.5 million Monday to help it better compete with the likes of Tivo.

This is MeeVee�s second round of funding. It was led by Labrador Ventures and included investments from WaldenVC, Edmond de Rothschild Venture Capital Management, and DEFTA Partners. The company plans to use the money to boost its engineering and marketing efforts.

MeeVee, based in Burlingame, California, is a vertical search company focusing on television listings. Hoping to cash in on the interest in personalized entertainment, MeeVee promises its users a personalized TV guide. Unlike the one-dimensional pages of a TV guide, users get to see promotions and snippets of TV shows when they click on MeeVee�s listings.

�There�s more and more stuff to watch on television, and it�s harder and harder to find it,� said Larry Marcus, a managing director at WaldenVC, which has more than a 20 percent stake in the company. �They have an interesting method and [intellectual property] to help people figure out what to watch.�"