Ex-HuffPo leaders’ stealth video startup Planet Daily raises $5M

The details are still fuzzy on the new stealth video startup Planet Daily Networks, founded by Huffington Post co-founder Ken Lerer and former CEO Eric Hippeau, but it appears that the company has nabbed $ 5 million in funding, according to a new SEC filing first spotted by Betabeat. The Form D filing doesn’t say who is investing in the start-up, but lists Fred Harman of Oak Investment Partners; Brian Bedol, founder of Bedrocket; and Nancy Tellem, former president of CBS Television Studios, as related persons.

Planet Daily is reportedly aiming at bringing TV-style news to the web, luring in people who normally watch Jon Stewart, said AllThingsD. The start-up is partnering with Bedol’s Bedrocket, a Lerer-backed media company that creates and invests in video programming.

AllThingsD’s Peter Kafka previously reported that the content will be a mix of livestreamed and taped reports, made up of professionally-produced segments and video from amateur contributors. The idea is to rely on social media channels to promote and distribute content to viewers. Planet Daily is still in the midst of hiring workers and will look to be up and running by this summer to start covering the presidential election.

Lerer and Hippeau are part of a group of former Huffington Post execs who are moving on to new projects. Jonah Peretti started Buzzfeed and Paul Berry, former CTO, recently left AOL to start a company called Rebel Mouse. The group has also teamed up on Soho Tech Labs, an incubator where they will be seeding and founding start-ups.

Image courtesy of Flickr user Walt Jabsco.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

  • NewNet Q1: Content Farms and Niche Networks on the Rise
  • Content Farms: The Players, The Benefits, The Risks
  • Social media in Q1: commerce and discovery dominated



GigaOM