Video metadata solutions provider Digitalsmiths has closed a $12.5 million Series C round, led by strategic investor Technicolor, with participation by existing investors .406 Ventures, Aurora Funds, Chrysalis Ventures, Capitol Broadcasting and Cisco. With the financing Digitalsmiths has raised a little over $30 million.
Ben Weinberger, Digitalsmiths CEO and Co-Founder told me that the round was oversubscribed and that additional funds are also available. The new round will support increased marketing and sales efforts for Digitalsmiths' search and discovery solutions targeted to premium video providers. The round will also support planned international expansion.
As I recently described, Digitalsmiths powered near real-time metadata tagging and indexing for last month's March Madness on Demand. The initiative marked one of the first times that metadata was created and indexed for live video instead of on-demand video. MMOD created "virtual clips" that were sorted into playlists such as "Impressive Moments," "Dunks and other plays," and others. Each of these specific playlists were dedicated areas sponsored by specific brands such as Coca-Cola Zero, History Channel, SAP and others. It was another reminder of how robust the online sports experience is becoming.