Kiora Inc Gets Funded By Intertrust, Looks Poised To Re-Script Video Rental Business

Piracy and the dependence of torrents, has actually downgraded the video rental services that were initiated in the few years in India. Be it BigFlix, like NetFlix, or the online streaming services being hosted by Spuul: none have the steam to sustain the harsh demographic taste in India – at least for now. However, if Intertrust Technology Corporation’s new found love for Kiora Inc is well placed – this things can take a new direction altogether.

Kiora Inc, a company started as Bluebox Media technologies has received an undisclosed amount in funding from Intertrust. Intertrust, a prominent entity in the development of DRM and other computer technologies – with over 300 patents worldwide, has been off late making some foray into venture capitalism. As per the statement by Intertrust CEO Mr. Talal G Shamoon, the company applauds the distribution plan and strategy of Kiora, apart from the impeccable technology that they have built.

To set is on a plain paper for the layman, Kiora will set up kiosks from where customers can rent their videos. They can be taken into a conventional flash drive and this content can be viewed on a special Set Top Box, which comes for barely $20. The video would be protected against piracy and cannot be opened by another method except the Set Top Box. This is being executed based on the Marlin Digital Rights Management technology which is incidentally the brainchild of Intertrust. The target customer for Kiora is mainly the immigrant crowd in countries, especially in the West. The program is in pilot in the Silicon Valley. Given the rarity of availability of ethnic movies and content in video rental libraries across the West, the company has hit a nice sweet spot for its business agenda.

Kiora Inc is also positioning itself as the ultimate video content distribution and delivery system for such video publishers too. It is charting out plans to obtain associations, licenses and the en-to-end delivery cum DRM network for media and entertainment publishers. This is especially being aimed at countries like India and China where there is very low penetration of internet and low bandwidth in internet speeds too.

With offices in Hyderabad and Sunnyvale, California – the next geographical expansion plan for the company lies in transcending the services to Middle East, Africa, South East Asia and China. Ethnicity is an important constant in countries, especially with a high brain drain index all around the world now – and this is the initial point of consolidation for this company.

Image Courtesy |  hippestphone

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