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$84 Million Raised in Q2 '11 By Private Online/Mobile Video Companies, A 2-Year Low
Despite the frenzy of digital media and technology IPOs occurring these days, private online and mobile video oriented companies raised a relatively modest $84 million in Q2 '11, the lowest level in the past 2 years. The total is derived from numerous public sources I track and the companies themselves; as always, it is possible that I missed some news during the quarter, if so, please let me know and I'll update the list.
The $84 million was raised by 13 companies (also a 2-year low), and of the amount, almost two-thirds came from just 3 companies, Digitalsmiths ($12.5M), VideoSurf ($16M) and Animoto ($25M). The Q2 total was suppressed versus prior quarters not only because of lower volume, but also because there were no big video ad network, online video platform or device financings announced, which have tended to be larger is size. As I'm always quick to add, too much shouldn't be read into one quarter's data as financings close when they do - a few days one way or the other and quarters can look very different.
In addition to the financings, there were a range of acquisitions both in and adjacent to the online/mobile video area, along with other notable financings. Overall there was a lot of market activity in Q2 and there's plenty of reason it will continue in Q3 (the potential Hulu acquisition is just one example). Continue reading for Q2's financings and deals. Lead investors are noted.
Financings:
Zixi ($4M) - April 11 - Schooner Capital, others
Zencoder ($2M) - April 12 - Andreessen-Horowitz, others
VideoSurf ($16M) - April 14 - Pitango Venture Capital, others
Bamboom Labs ($4.5M) - April 15 - FirstMark Capital, others
Maker Studios ($1.5M) - April 21 - Greycroft, GRP Partners
Viddy ($1.5M) - April 22 - Undisclosed
Encoding.com ($2M) - April 22 - Existing investors
Digitalsmiths - ($12.5M) - April 27 - Technicolor, others
VYou ($3M) - May 23 - RRE Ventures, Highland Capital Partners
Frequency ($3M) - May 26 - Founders/angels
VideoGenie ($2M) - June 9 - Blumberg Capital, others
Movieclips.com ($7M) - June 9 - Undisclosed
Animoto ($25M) - June 29 - Spectrum Equity Investors
Deals:
Dish acquires Blockbuster - April 6
blinkx acquires Burst Media - April 8
KIT Digital acquires ioko - April 11
AlphaBird acquires PlaceVine - May 12
YuMe acquires Appealing Media - June 16
DG acquires MediaMind - June 16
Google acquires SageTV - June 20
Of Note:
Level 3 acquires Global Crossing - April 11
Hillcrest Raises $5.5M - April 13
Invidi Raises $49M - April 14
Tesco acquires blinkbox (UK) - April 20
Yahoo acquires IntoNow - April 25
Peel Raises $16.7M - May 2
Limelight acquires Clickability - May 2
Warner Bros. acquires Rotten Tomatoes/Flixster - May 4
Microsoft acquires Skype - May 10
Envivio IPO delayed - June 30
Categories: Deals & Financings
