Hillcrest Labs, a Rockville, Maryland-based company which markets graphical navigational tools for television sets, on Monday said it closed on $25 million in funding led by investment management firm AllianceBernstein.
Hillcrest, which raised its overall investment tally to $50 million, plans to use the funding to add to its portfolio of pointer-based remote control applications.
Hillcrest markets software that overlays a zoomable graphical user interface on TV sets through which viewers, armed with a device that is a cross between a PC mouse and a TV remote control, can navigate their way around on-screen entertainment guides.
Viewers use a mouse-pointer to navigate through customized icons to find and access movies, music, photos or games stored or resident in DVRs, set-top boxes, game consoles, or attached music libraries.
"We are bringing a mouse coupled with a GUI to the TV just as Steve Jobs did for the PC 20 years ago," said Andy Addis, Hillcrest's executive vice president of marketing. "In the exploding world of digital media, the old up-down, left-right, text-based TV navigation has reached the end of its useful life."
Six-year-old Hillcrest's technology is behind Logitech's MX Air rechargeable desktop mouse that allows PC users to operate their mouse in the traditional way or pointer-style from a distance of up to 30 feet. Logitech introduced the MX Air mouse in August 2007.