KP, Sequoia, CRV Dial Into Podcasting

There is little that gets Silicon Valley as hot and bothered as when an Internet company gets funded by both Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Sequoia Capital. So it’s worth noting that the iconic venture shops led an $8.85 million Series A round for PodShow Inc., according to a regulatory filing.

KP’s John Doerr and Ray Lane took board seats, joining Jerry Newman of Bear Stearns and omnipresent angel investor Ram Shriram (Google, Plaxo, Zazzle, etc.), who sits on the board for shareholder Harris MyCFO Inc.

Rumor has it that it was KP that approached PodShow. Doerr and Lane were unavailable for comment.

PodShow, based in Miami Beach, is focused on the development, management and promotion of online audio programs known as “podcasts,” which are so named because they can be played on an iPod. The company was started by Ron Bloom of Boku Communications and Adam Curry, the onetime MTV “VJ” now known as “The Podfather.”

News of PodShow’s funding, first published by PE Week Wire, apparently prompted another podcasting company to open its kimono. Odeo, a startup founded by Blogger creator Evan Williams, received an undisclosed amount of funding in a deal led by George Zachary of Charles River Ventures, according to a blog posting by Williams.

“Before and after meeting George, we took many other trips to Sand Hill Road earlier this year, meeting with many other firms,” Williams wrote.

He noted that Amicus Ventures also participated in the round, as well as a bunch of individual investors: Mitch Kapor, Joe Kraus, Tim O’Reilly, Ron Conway, Josh Kopelman, Don Hutchinson, Dave Pell, Mike Maples, Francesco Caio, Barbara Poggiali, Emanuele Angelidis, James Hong, Ed Zschau and Ariel Poler.