The Filter raises more money so it can recommend more content
The Filter is one of many companies that recommends media to users based on their personal tastes. While internet radio services like Pandora filter music, and community-review sites like Flixster help you find movies based on what your friends like, The Filter is trying to be more holistic. It asks you to tell it at least six musicians and movies that you like or don’t like, then uses that information to provide more general recommendations about what you might want to watch or listen to.
[Update: The company has specified the amount of its latest funding: $1.2 million. It says its traffic is "on target to reach 200,000 unique visitors in March." Also, to be clear, The Filter is the trade name for while Exabre Ltd is the company name.]
To further expand its recommendation services to other content — something The Filter has been working on for years — the Bath, England-based company has just closed an unspecified third round of funding from existing investors Eden Ventures and music visionary (and The Filter’s visionary) Peter Gabriel, as well as some some well-known angel investors.
The Filter started out as a downloadable plugin for music players that recommended music based on your existing music library. Today, its web site presents a graphics-heavy interface that lets you search and sort for recommendations based on the genres of music and movies you’ve already identified (see screenshot). The company has also cut licensing deals with Nokia for the handset manufacturer’s music store, for Microsoft Music and for club/music brand Ministry of Sound.
More about the company’s plans, from chief executive David Maher Roberts:
We are delighted to have closed this investment round — especially as it comes off the back of a successful 2008 for The Filter, which saw the launch of TheFilter.com as well as growing revenues from existing and new licensing partnerships. We plan to use the funds to further develop our content filtering service for consumers and to increase the number of businesses that will benefit from our services and expertise in Europe and the US. We have had decent success with partnerships on both sides of the Atlantic because our technology works for all media types, delivers measurable results and is dead easy to implement.
Angel investors who participated in this round include Roderick Banner, chairman of WPP-owned media agency Banner Corp, former LoudEye chief executive Michael Brochu (via EMM Investments) and We7.com founder John Taysom.
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About the Author, Eric Eldon
Eric currently covers digital media technology and business news, especially what's happening on social networks and their platforms. He also writes and edits stories about venture capital, and lots of other stuff, too. He started at VentureBeat in the spring of 2007, half a year or so after Matt Marshall left his reporting job at the San Jose Mercury News to found the site. Eric previously cofounded a startup called Writewith, that was building editorial software for newspapers and other groups of writers. The startup didn't work out, but he learned a lot.