U.S. Video Startups Raised $682M Last Year

It amounts to a hill of beans and then some. U.S.-based video startups gathered $682.17 million in venture capital funding in 2006, according to statistics gathered by Dow Jones/VentureOne.

The amount was spread across both infrastructure and consumer plays, 74 companies in total. It’s up 95 percent from the $350.05 million that 54 video-related startups raised in 2005.

And already, in the first quarter of 2007, some 19 video software and services companies have raised $210.7 million. Put another way, American video startups raised $1.96 million per day over the past 15 months. And there’s been one exit to write home about: $1.7 billion for YouTube.