Legitimate use may be the key to propelling the file-sharing startup past competitors like Kazaa and eDonkey. (eWEEK.com)P2P-focused startup BitTorrent has received its first infusion of venture capital funding, an $8.75-million round from Doll Capital Management.
Developer of the popular open-source peer to peer file-sharing protocol that shares its name, BitTorrent will use the financing to fuel product development and pursue commercialization of the technology, according to the company.
The funding may help BitTorrent Inc. in a number of ways, said Nicholas Farka, marketing manager at CacheLogic.
In the short term, the infusion may help BitTorrent regain some of the footing it lost earlier in the year, when it was surpassed by eDonkey in terms of traffic.
Corrupt MyBitTorrent files vex users. Click here to read more.
Once responsible for about 35 percent of all Internet traffic, BitTorrent slipped when the MPAA managed to close down key tracker sites, Farka said. The subsequent attention to sites that use the protocol for illegal file sharing hurt BitTorrent's user rate.
"As BitTorrent was getting slammed by the MPAA and connected to pirate activities, eDonkey was essentially under the radar, and no one was accusing them of anything," Farka said. "Since eDonkey is also easier to use, and is available in multiple languages, it rose quickly in the rankings."
Read the full story on eWEEK.com: BitTorrent Gets Venture Capital Boost
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