Joost Pockets $45M

Joost , the Internet video startup formed by Skype Ltd. founders Janus Friis and Niklas Zennström, today named an impressive line-up of investors as it announced a $45 million funding round. (See Joost Gets $45M and Skypsters Fast Forward to Internet TV.)

Five companies -- Index Ventures , Sequoia Capital , the Li Ka Shing Foundation, CBS Corp. (NYSE: CBS), and Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA) -- have each taken a minority stake in the latest venture set up by Skype Ltd. , though it hasn't been stated how much each has invested or what percentage each owns.

CBS and Viacom are supplying content as well as financial backing for Joost. (See CBS Gets Joost and Joost Signs With Viacom.)

Sequoia and the Skypesters are already familiar with each other, as they're co-investors, along with Google (Nasdaq: GOOG), in Spanish public WiFi startup Fon . Sequoia is a serial telecom investor: Current investments include software giant Aricent Inc. , gateway vendor Stoke Inc. Two of its previous investments were Google and YouTube Inc. (See Aricent Crashes Telecom Software Party, Stoke Cashes In, Comes Out , and Google Gone Gaga.)

Index Ventures also has close links to the Skype founders, having been one of the VOIP firm's later stage backers. It is also an investor in FON. (See EBay Buys Skype for $2.6B, VCs Pump $18.8M Into Skype , and FON Raises $21.7M.)

The Li Ka Shing Foundation is a charity run by Li Ka-shing, chairman of Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. (Hong Kong: 0013; Pink Sheets: HUWHY) and arguably one of the most influential industrialists in Asia/Pacific.

Joost has been busy in the past few weeks, announcing its commercial launch, unveiling its initial advertising partners, and signing up more TV content suppliers. (See Joost Launches Commercially, Joost Tinkers With Ad Model, Atlas Lands in France, and Joost Signs Agreements.)

— Ray Le Maistre, International News Editor, Light Reading