Roku seeks funding for global growth

London US start-up Roku is gearing up for a major funding round as it seeks to export to other countries the success of its mini-set-top boxes that stream internet video to televisions, founder and chief executive Anthony Wood said. Roku, which competes with Apple TV, has already sold 2.5 million of its palm-sized boxes in the US, persuading some to ditch cable subscriptions in favour of a $60 (Dh220) box as more and more quality content is available online. At the start of this year, Roku launched in Britain and Ireland, following partner Netflix into a market dominated by BSkyB where it will jostle for consumers' attention with a host of alternative offerings. "All TV is going to be internet and it's going to go quickly, it's going to go faster than people think," said Wood, who invented the personal video recorder at one of his previous companies in the mid-1990s. "We want to make sure we win because there's not going to be a lot of winners," Wood said. Roku has started quietly in Britain as it wants to build a high-quality stable of channels before embarking on a major advertising campaign next year or possibly during the run-up to the Christmas holiday in December. For that, and for planned expansion this year into France, Germany and possibly other markets such as Japan, the company plans to raise up to $50 million. "It'll be big — bigger than all of them together," said Wood. From gulfnews