The angels are lining up to give Y Combinator startup Embed.ly some cash. Betaworks, Ron Conway, and Chris Sacca are investing $250,000 in the company, which specializes in turning links into embed codes.
There are hundreds of Websites and APIs out there which let people embed media and data all across the Web. Connecting those embed codes with their underlying links is a Herculean task, one which Embed.ly is doggedly pursuing. Embed.ly launched in March with a way to search for embed codes, but quickly pivoted to helping sites manage multiple sources of embed codes through one API. So when Web users share links to embedded media on Reddit, Yammer, German social network StudiVZ, Embed.ly automatically converts those links into inline videos, photos, charts, documents, or other data.
Embed.ly currently supports 112 different embed-code publishers, including YouTube, Ustream, Flickr, Picassa, Scribd, PollDaddy, and even CrunchBase. Eventually, Embed.ly will offer publishers analytics on how and where their content is being embedded.
With so many links being shared these days, turning those links into the underlying videos, photos, and other data will help people consume that media without having to click away.