But what may be more important to the company is that the capital comes from Steamboat Ventures, the venture capital arm of Walt Disney Co., and a strong potential network partner.

EdgeCast operates a content distribution network, a system of computers linked together across the Internet that cooperate transparently to deliver content (particularly large media content) to end-users. EdgeCast began running its network in February, but operated in stealth mode, gathering potential customers, until August. The company now has around 50 customers since its public launch, according to its founders, CEO Alex Kazerani and president James Segil.

The money will be spent to "expand operations both domestically and internationally, as well as to grow our network and server capacity around the world," Kazerani said. "It will also go to expanding our sales and marketing efforts."

EdgeCast plans to open sales offices in Europe early in 2008 and in Asia later in the year.

Started in August 2006, the company was self-funded by the founders until June 2007, when it raised a "friends and family" Series A round that included angel investors from the Hollywood media community. The Series A included Mark Amin, chairman of CinemaNow as well as Jon Feltheimer, CEO of Lionsgate Films. The latest round brings EdgeCast's total funding to more than $10 million.

Scott Hilleboe, senior principal of Steamboat Ventures, and Jeffrey Stibel, president of Web site Pros Inc., will join EdgeCast's board of directors.

Segil said the company did not expect to raise additional capital so soon after the first round, but found the opportunity to good to pass up when Steamboat Ventures approached it.

"Steamboat seemed like a great strategic fit," said Segil. "We've been really impressed with Steamboat, obviously their connection with the media industry is incredibly strong and those are alot of our prospective customers."

"They have connections everywhere and it's an excellent strategic venture capital firm even aside from the affiliation with Disney, which is obviously a wonderful thing," he added.

While EdgeCast's management doesn't expect to raise more money, Kazerani said that in another round "strategic value will be more valuable than access to cash."

They added that other business relations between itself and Disney aside from the equity stake are still being determined as Disney is now evaluating EdgeCast and its technology.

Disney CEO Robert Iger has been a vocal proponent of distributing his company's content digitally since taking over the media and entertainment titan in October 2005. The Burbank, Calif., company was one of the first to offer video content through iTunes and allow for free streaming of its television shows through its Web site.

The investment by Steamboat will likely be a powerful negotiating chip as EdgeCast pitches its services to Hollywood's entertainment and media industry, an edge the company can use as it breaks into a crowded market. EdgeCast competes against such publicly traded companies as Akamai Technologies Inc., Limelight Networks Inc. and CDNetworks, which combined have more than 50% of the CDN market.

EdgeCast said its network's speed and optimization for digital media have enabled it to gain market share in the four months since it emerged from stealth mode.

As opposed to some legacy CDNs that require media companies to share storage space on the network -- with the inherent risk of being "kicked off" the shared edge by demand for another company's content -- EdgeCast provides each customer with its own dedicated edge space on its servers worldwide.

EdgeCast's services are now available in 13 cities globally, including North America, Europe and Asia.

"We're the only CDN in Hollywood," Kazerani added. "It makes a big difference to be down the street from them."