Mogreet rakes in $5M for mobile video messaging

Mogreet, developer of a platform that allows cell phone users to send videos to one another, announced today that it brought in $5 million in second-round funding. Its software compresses video files — up to 20-second clips — so that they can be sent through what is called MMS (multimedia message service — like SMS only for video instead of text messaging).

A “Mogreet” is shorthand for the type of video message the company distributes. The company’s website provides a library of different Mogreets tailored for occasions like holidays and birthdays. Most recently, it posted clips of speeches delivered by presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain. They cost between 49 and 99 cents to send from either the Mogreet website or your handset.

The Venice, Calif. company plans to use its new financing to continue building its distribution network. Currently, it has partnerships with major wireless carriers in the U.S. and the United Kingdom — AT&T among them. It has also struck several strategic deals with movie studios like Paramount that provide shared content, and handset makers to ensure the system works between different phones. Right now, it works with about 70 percent of active cell phones.

Also in development are Mogreet applications for the iPhone and Google’s Android.

The company received an undisclosed amount of first-round funding last year. The recent round was provided by Ascend Ventures, Black Diamond Ventures, Spyglass Ventures, and DFJ Frontier. Update: Today, TechCrunch claimed that VentureBeat inaccurately stated that a second funding round amounting to $2.5 million had been raised earlier this year. The report was not false, as it is clear (according to publically available records) that that money was raised subsequent to the first round of financing.