Second Rounds All Around: Vitrue, Skinkers, Imagine

Three startups in the video space have made their way to second base, taking in sizable Series B rounds. While Vitrue, Skinkers, and Imagine Communications will probably never be household names, with their new funding the three video services providers (though they don’t compete with one another) are more likely to be powering a video experience near you.

Atlanta-based Vitrue, a white-label video-sharing site provider with customers in advertising and media, has raised $10 million in a second round led by Dace Ventures and including Comcast Interactive Capital, Turner Broadcasting, and General Catalyst Partners (see our list of video startups with big media investments).

Vitrue’s customer list is impressive, with user video contest sites built for FX’s It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Procter & Gamble’s (PG) Pringles, Viacom’s (VIA.B) VH1, and Time Warner’s (TWX) TBS (click on the links to see what Vitrue’s work looks like; note, however, that the contests have all concluded).

Skinkers, the London-based enterprise communications company that is building out a live P2P television and radio platform based on Microsoft (MSFT) technology, also raised a Series B round. Skinkers said today it’s getting $16 million from Acacia Capital Partners and SPARK Ventures, as well as its own management team. Microsoft had said in September the live P2P technology, called LiveStation, would enter large-scale trials, which we took to mean it was not yet ready for prime time.

Lastly, and this one is unconfirmed, Israel’s Globes reported this weekend that San Diego-based Imagine Communications, which enables video-on-demand services for broadband operators, has raised $15 million from Court Square Ventures, Carmel Ventures and Columbia Capital.

Update: Imagine Communications confirmed the round (PDF release).