Watchup, a US startup with a daily TV newscast product, has gained a further US$2.75 million in funding in a round led by Tribune Media.
Tribune was joined by McClatchy Company and existing investors Knight Enterprise Fund, Stanford-StartX Fund, Ned Lamont, Gordon Crovitz and Jim Friedlich in the funding round which brings total capital raised to $4.25 million.
Tribune Media president of broadcasting Larry Wert says Watchup "extends our vision of expanding the reach of quality local news content".
The system Watchup delivers a personalised newscast from sources such as PBS NewsHour, CNET, the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and Univision to a tablet, smartphone or other devices
Founded in 2012 at Stanford University's StartX accelerator, it is seen as being a key innovator in video space.
McClatchy's president and chief executive Pat Talamantes says given the strides it had been making to expand its own video content, "we knew we had to be involved with Adriano (Farano) and his team".
Watchup co-founder and chief executive Farano says the Watchup family "now includes investors with hundreds of years of journalistic history combined and yet, they are all realizing how dramatically watching habits have changed".
According to Adobe's US Digital Video Benchmark, online TV video consumption saw a 388 per cent year-to-year spike with gaming consoles and OTT as the fastest growing consumer devices.
"Watchup's vision is changing the way we watch news like Hulu, Netflix, and others have done for entertainment," says Farano. "We want it to be the answer to a growing demand from Millennials, cord-cutters, and other digitally savvy users who want to better understand the world as history unfolds before their eyes."