Investment in Sevenload

I invested in Sevenload, a European video platform. Some readers of my blog may not understand why I invested in Sevenload if I already invested in Vpod, but both services are great for different reasons. While Vpod is very good for video editing and mobile uploading, Sevenload is like the combination of a Flickr and a Youtube, which is something the internet space very much needed. But not only did I get involved with Sevenload because I love the site and how easy it is to use, but also because of Ibo, Axel and the fantastic team of developers they have.

Press Release

Martin Varsavsky joins Sevenload

First class reinforcement for sevenload / Fon, Viatel and Ya.com Founder, and XING shareholder is sevenload’s newest investor and advisory board member.

Cologne, April 3, 2007 – sevenload GmbH was able to win yet another investor, Martin Varsavsky, after Burda Digital Ventures joined up with the company. Mr. Varsavsky will also become a member of the start-up’s advisory board. The multi-media platform www.sevenload.com will thus be on the side of this internationally recognized and successful entrepreneur.

“We are delighted to have won a good friend, experienced businessman and consultant in Martin Varsavsky, who is well-versed in developing platforms” said Axel Schmiegelow, Managing Director of sevenload GmbH.

Varsavsky is known worldwide for having established companies such as Viatel, Jazztel, Ya.com and FON. In fact, a very well-known German entrepreneurial personality, Christiane zu Salm, is also on board at Fon. > Moreover, Mr. Varsavsky is also a shareholder in other various known companies such as XING, Joost; Zudeo, Netvibes, Vpod, Gspace and Technorati. Additional investors for FON include among others: Sequoia Capital, Google, Skype and Index Ventures.

Ibrahim Evsan, founder and CTO of sevenload also welcomed Martin Varsavsky’s start with sevenload: “Our circle of investors is being completed by someone who will be able to expand out technological expertise.”

“European video portals such as sevenload are significantly more advanced than YouTube. Sevenload combines the features of Flickr, which allows sharing of still photos, and YouTube, the video sharing site, on an independent platform”, explained Martin Varsavsky. “sevenload is one of the most promising companies in Europe and is quite convincing of this through its visionary and technological advances.”

In addition to his entrepreneurial activities, Mr. Varsavsky is very involved in the areas of renewable energies and education. He is the primary investor in the wind parks “El Moralejo” and “Proesa”, owner of Sybilla and Jocomomola. He has also founded two important education portals in Latin American: Educ.ar and EducarChile.cl in Argentina and Chile. In addition, Mr. Varsavsky is the founder of the Safe Democracy Foundation and he is also on the Board of Trustees of the William Jefferson Clinton Foundation. Martin is teacher and board member of the Instituto de Empresa, one of Europe’s most prestigious Business Schools.