BitTorrent Manages to Raise $17 Million for P2P Content Delivery

Peer-to-peer content based delivery services provider BitTorrent has raised an astounding $17 million more in a third round from its venture endorsers on Sand Hill Road, DCM and Accel Partners, a new regulatory filing reports. With this new financing the 7-year-old’s total funding has reached $46.4 million.

The financial support is a bit surprising considering that BitTorrent’s business has been staggering lately. Despite CEO Doug Walker’s anticipation towards a solid business ensured by video companies and their need to find ways for content distribution, demand for BitTorrent’s p2p sharing platform remained limited to game distributors.

DAG Ventures, a company known for racking up the later-stage transactions of major firms such as Kleiner Perkins and Accel, has become a sponsor for BitTorrent’s Series C as well. DAG has joined forces with Kleiner on at least 51 rounds for 30 companies, according to Thomson Reuters data; it has joined forces with Accel on at least 30 rounds for 15 companies.

According to some experts Joost’s unsuccessful venture has made it clear why P2P startups and video don’t get along. They say users clearly dislike downloading the add-ons or apps needed by P2P. Unlike BitTorrent who employs swarms of users, content delivery networks (CDNs) send out data using centralized servers.