A good start to the summer for IPTV and online VOD recommendation company BeeTV: the Milan-based start-up has received $8 million (£4.91 million) in second-round funding from Italian VC firm Innogest, as Techcrunch reports. BeeTV’s technology creates a personal content channel for each user, via TV STBs, mobile or online, and recommends content based on viewing habits. The company says it can incease VOD viewing figures and increase average revenue per user for networks. BeeTV’s flagship beeSTBox product is designed for networks with IPTV, online and mobile video offerings, such as Orange in France, and creates a unified profile for each user across multiple platforms. An iPhone app is in the works, which will allow remote controlling of PVRs, much like BSkyB’s app launched in April.

Meanwhile in Germany, browser-based games site Playnik.com has received €500,000 (£434,200) in funding from the High-Tech Investment Fund and Oliver Jung of Holtz Brinkhotel Ventures, to allow global expansion. Via Deutsche Startups