Pluggd Scores $6M, Launches New Site

Pluggd, a Seattle-based startup that’s developed in-video search and advertising targeting technology based on speech recognition, has received a $6 million venture investment led by Intel Ventures and including support from DFJ Frontier, Labrador Ventures and the Band of Angels. An earlier deal for $1.65 million brings the company’s total funding to more than $7.5 million.

The funding comes alongside a shift from the company’s consumer-facing approach to one geared more toward corporate clients and independent publishers, Pluggd CEO Alex Castro said over the phone this morning. Why would smaller content creators be interested in Pluggd’s technology? Advertising targeting. “Consumers will still be able to search over this content, but we’re really at this point focused on enabling and providing this technology to video publishers,” said Castro.

The Series A funding deal was closed some time ago, but Pluggd withheld the announcement pending an update of its Web site that was due to be completed this morning, according to Castro. VentureBeat also reports that the company took investment in lieu of an acquisition. The money will go toward funding an expansion — Castro said that among the updates to the site will be new job listings for developers, user interface designers, and a vice president of business development who will be responsible for reaching out to media companies and content developers.