Sky invests $2m in TV startup Caavo

Sky has invested US$2 million in Caavo, a US-based startup that was set-up last year by a small team that included the late Slingbox founder Blake Krikorian.

The company, which is headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area and is yet to launch a product, describes itself as “the missing link between your TV and you”.

Caavo’s stated aim is to “improve the in-home entertainment experience for consumers, by offering easy-to-use and beautifully designed products.”

The firm was co-founded in 2015 by Krikorian and other tech veterans Andrew Einaudi, Ashish Aggarwal and Vinod Gopinath.

Before Caavo, Einaudi worked at Microsoft on the Xbox team that launched the Xbox One. Earlier in his career he spent five years as director of product and programme management at Sling Media, and then two as a director working on new TV services at Echostar Advanced Technology.

Gopinath’s most recent role has been as chief operating officer at 3D audio hardware firm Violet3D. Before this he co-founded and was CEO of social video discovery platform Shufflr.tv. He started his career at IBM in the Bay Area in the mid-90’s.

Aggarwal co-founded Violet3D and has worked there for more than eight years. Before this he worked at Harman International.

Krikorian died unexpectedly earlier this year aged 48. He first developed the Slingbox TV streaming media device with his brother Jason Krikorian in 2002 and sold the business to Echostar in 2007. After that he worked for a time at Microsoft, served on the Amazon board and invested in a number of other companies.

Sky’s investment in Caavo is the latest in a string of bets the UK TV operator has made on innovative, early-stage companies.

Last month alone, Sky invested £1.55 million (US$1.9 million) in eSports broadcaster Ginx TV, US$1 million in the Drone Racing League, and €4 million (US$4.4 million) in French over-the-top video platform Molotov.

Other firms that Sky has backed in the past include sports streaming service fuboTV, online sports network Whistle Sports, IP streaming service provider Roku and cinematic virtual reality company Jaunt.