Web video discovery startup Mefeedia has raised $250,000 in angel funding and launched a search engine that indexes some 15,000 video websites. The company, which was previously self-funded, has long focused on episodic video via RSS feeds submitted to its index.

The company’s social video discovery approach, which includes tools for subscribing to shows and recommending clips to friends, is somewhat similar to Vodpod and ffwd. As for competing with the pure search players, Mefeedia doesn’t have the web-scouring power of a Truveo or the video analysis technology of a blinkx, but CEO Frank Sinton says the company’s social and vertical (i.e. separate search tabs for video, podcasts, music, or TV) approach will set it apart. Mefeedia’s early focus on independent video producers should also come in handy as they come of age online.

I don’t think there’s much demand for a standalone video search engine right now, but it may just be that nobody’s offered something killer yet. Marshall Kirkpatrick at ReadWriteWeb complains about Mefeedia’s design, and I have to agree. A fresh coat of paint would do this search engine good. But I was able to find relevant and timely results for my queries, with easy navigation between the embedded video of search results without leaving the page.

Mefeedia has six employees and is based in Burbank, California. The $250,000 comes from unnamed angel investors, and is going to be applied to increasing infrastructure costs.