• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, April 1, 2010

Startup NearVerse, which recently launched a free iPhone app for sharing content easily with people nearby, has raised $1 million in seed funding from Meakem Becker Venture Capital.

The Philadelphia-based company has already begun using the initial funding to continue developing the software-based networking system underlying its LoKast app. The program, launched at the SXSW festival, enables users with a Bluetooth or Wi-Fi capability to upload and exchange music, photos, videos and other content with other logged-in users within a 300-foot radius.

Doing away with the need for 3G, the LoKast app promises to deliver media five to 10 times faster than other types of mobile connections. With the major wireless networks increasingly burdened with a range of emerging mobile devices like the Kindle and forthcoming iPad, NearVerse aims to carve out a niche in providing speedy short-range content delivery.

With concerts and other live performances seen as likely places where people would use LoKast, the company is partnering with bands on merchandising and selling music through the app as well as working with music distributors such as The Orchard and IODA to offer its users exclusive material. "The music industry has been a great partner for us," said NearVerse co-founder Boris Bogatin, who was previously with content delivery network Cidera.

Overall, he said the company plans to monetize its service through in-app advertising and taking a cut of in-app transactions. NearVerse also plans to release a software development kit (SDK) so third parties can launch their own proximate-sharing apps using the company's technology. "We look forward to seeing other apps like LoKast, whether from Facebook or FourSquare or other companies that would have interesting use for the SDK," said Bogatin.

But he emphasized that NearVerse is not trying to compete with the fast-emerging crop of social location startups like FourSquare and Gowalla. "Location-based services are about 'how do I get to a destination,' not 'how do I interact with the person next to me,' so it becomes a very different set of use cases," he said.

The company plans to soon launch an Android version of the LoKast app and add integration with Facebook Connect. In connection with the NearVerse financing, Glen Meakem and Alan Veeck of Meakem Becker will join the company's board of directors.