Vpod.tv, a very promising online video publishing platform, has finally launched. This is exciting news for a very hot European company that raised $5.1M Series A financing in May this year.

I know you are all thinking… why is it exciting to have yet another video startup entering the crowded online video market?

Well, there are many reasons that make vpod.tv a frontrunner:
- Focus on Europe: The company is based in Paris and Madrid, and the launch already includes support for 8 European languages
- Focus on monetization: Similar to Revver, vpod.tv makes it easy to insert advertising into the videos and share the revenues with the video owners
- Focus on editing tools: Their best-in-class platform allows for very easy editing and transcoding (ie, getting your video seamlessly from your mobile to the online player and to your iPod)

But the key reason why I believe vpod.tv has a strong chance at succeeding is the strength of its investors and management team:

The lead investor is Frédéric Humbert of Innovacom (founder of Kelkoo). Among the other investors is Martin Varsavsky (the legendary serial entrepreneur that founded, among many others, Jazztel, Ya.com and FON).

The co-founders are Ivan Communod and Rodrigo A. Sepúlveda Schulz. These guys are great, check out this old video interview for Xolo.tv and you will realize how they have the passion to succeed:

Disclosure: As a Spaniard that launched an Internet portal in 1996 in Madrid, I am very excited to read that vpod is co-headquartered in Madrid. I believe vpod will greatly contribute to developing a larger ecosystem of digital media companies in Spain. As an INSEAD MBA alumn, I am psyched that Rodrigo is also an alumn. I might be biased, but vpod is one of the most exciting startups in Europe right now in the digital media space

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Techcrunch discusses the launch
thoughts on the financing round