We all know the Swedish startup Videoplaza has been on a roll lately with their ad serving technology for managing and monetising online video. Venture capitalist are not disagreeing: Today Videoplaza announced the completion of its €3.5 million (US$5 million) round of investment led by Creandum and Northzone.
Not surprisingly, the capital was raised to support a further commercial development and a roll-out across Europe. More specifically, the funding will enable Videoplaza to accelerate the deployment of its Monetizer ad server platform technology for managing, displaying and tracking advertising in and around publishers’ online video content into more European territories, including Germany, Spain and Italy.
Fredric Cassel, General Partner at Creandum added: “The combination of Videoplaza’s ad serving technology and strong management team represent a compelling investment opportunity for us.. We are excited to support the company as it builds on its key role in shaping the multi-billion dollar global online advertising market.”
When talking to Sorosh Tavakoli, Videoplaza Founder & CEO, on what is happening in the space, I was surprised to hear that it’s not just about online video living in the browser anymore. The focus is shifting to “the new TV”, which means a screen independent video experience. It’s only a natural development, but I’m surprised to see the multiplatform coming so soon. For some reason I always thought the stepping outside of the browser would take a bit longer.
Other interesting trends Tavakoli outlined in the space include the monetization of video syndication. For example you put videos say in Dailymotion and be able to monetize that. Other big one is the emergency of long form video. Both, free and for-pay.
