The Internet will be televised.

GridNetworks on Tuesday said it snagged a $9.5 million first round of funding to back its peer-to-peer delivery of Internet-based content for TV.

The Seattle, Washington-based company’s software, dubbed GridCasting, helps shuttle user-generated video and other Internet-based video to TVs. GridNetworks claims its software will enable millions of viewers to simultaneously watch broadband-delivered programming without interruptions.

Menlo Park, California-based Panorama Capital led the funding, which had contributions from two strategic investors to be named later.

“What we’re going to do is make Internet television possible,” GridNetworks CEO Tony Naughtin said. “We make a true television experience that is compelling.”

Mr. Naughtin said he hopes to persuade some of the largest studios to embrace GridCasting. The company would also like to embed its software into consumer devices.

The market for Internet-based video is poised to surge, according to analyst firm In-Stat. There were 540 million users last year, said analyst Gerry Kaufhold, and he estimates that number will grow to 4 billion by the end of the decade. Analysts said viewing Internet video on TV could prove a next logical step.

Many people will also be viewing it on mobile devices. Half of the new traffic is expected to come from handheld device users—not television sets—according to In-Stat research.

GridCasting uses peer-to-peer technology, which has increasingly found its way into legitimate forms of businesses beyond its early days of illegal sharing of music files.