Videoplaza Secures $12 Million Series B
Videoplaza has just come out with an announcement that they have secured a $12 million investment aimed for global expansion. The Series B funding comes from Qualcomm Ventures and Innovacom. We've written about the Sweden based company before as well, regarding their strong growth. With this investment the growth is sure to follow. The company had a great 2011 according to the press release. It served five times greater ad volume than the year before and opened up new offices in Madrid, Berlin and Singapore. It now operates in 17 different countries.
Northzone Invests €6.47 M In The Online Backup Company
The Online Backup Company closed a NKr 50 million deal (€6.47 m) with Northzone and its partners to help the company expand to Sweden, Germany, and the rest of Europe. You probably guessed it from the name, but the company provides online backup and disaster recovery solutions, and has seen steady traction in its home in Norway with 4000 customers, 35 employees and a turnover close to NKr 50 million.
Trustpilot Secures €3.3 Million In Funding
Trustpilot, a rating service for online shopping, announced it has received €3.3 million in funding from two Nordic venture funds – SEED Capital and Northzone. The company allows a user to look at a single metric to see if they will probably have a pleasurable shopping experience. Aside from the value it provides between customers, the service is also helpful for online businesses to communicate their strong customer service by adding independent reviews to their site.
Videoplaza Secures € 3.5 Million In Funding
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.
Northzone Announces The First Close Of € 90 Million Of A New Fund. So What?
Northzone Ventures announced the first close of € 90 million of a new fund, Northzone VI. Targeting € 150 million, the fund will invest in fast growing Euro tech companies. Prominent Nordic and International institutional investors participated in the first close.
This was not only significant because we certainly don't have too much venture capital in the Nordics, but also because this will mean that some of the better venture capital firms are bullish enough to look outside for new investments instead of just trying help navigate their current portfolio companies through the rough economy. I'm happy that the Finnish Industry Investment, whose Advisory Council I sit at, invested a total of € 7.5m in the new fund (consider this as my disclosure). This shows that the institutional players believe in the asset class despite the lack of an IPO market. I agree that I might read this news as a bigger positive sign than most, given how bad the European let alone Nordic venture capital situation is, but what it highlights is that the best startups will always find the money when they need it regardless of geography or economy. For the real pirates now is always the right time to start a company.
