Strategic Funding Round, Including New Investment from Institutional Financial Investors and Media Companies, Solidifies Brightcove's Leadership in Internet TV
New Investors AllianceBernstein, Brookside Capital, Maverick Capital, The New York Times Company and Transcosmos Join Existing Investors in Financing
Cambridge, MA - January 17, 2007 - Brightcove announced today the closing of a $59.5 million strategic funding round that will allow the Internet TV company to accelerate international expansion and solidify a market leading position as the Internet TV market matures and consolidates in the coming year.
Led by AllianceBernstein L.P., Brookside Capital LLC, Maverick Capital, Ltd., the funding round also includes investments from The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT), and Transcosmos Investments & Business Development, Inc., as well as all of the company's existing strategic and financial investors: Accel Partners, Allen & Company LLC, AOL (NYSE: TWX), General Catalyst Partners, The Hearst Corporation, and IAC/InterActiveCorp (Nasdaq: IACI). Morgan Stanley (NYS: MS) and Allen & Company served as placement agents for the financing.
"This investment in Brightcove will enable us to grow our business at a critical juncture in the adoption of Internet TV," said Jeremy Allaire, Brightcove founder and chief executive officer. "With the new funds we will be expanding internationally, deepening our service offering to give media partners better tools to distribute and monetize video online, and empowering consumers to interact with that content in exciting new ways."
The new financial investors give Brightcove broad access to global capital markets as the company grows, and the new strategic investors present the company with opportunities to accelerate its leadership in the media industry worldwide. The investment from The New York Times Company, one of the Brightcove's earliest customers, strengthens Brightcove's unique leadership position providing Internet TV services to news and information media companies expanding into online video. The partnership with Transcomos Investments & Business Development, a wholly-owned subsidiary of transcomos inc., a leading digital marketing services provider based in Japan, gives Brightcove access to the exploding Japanese Internet video market and helps support the company's international growth.
"Brightcove's early success in partnering with media companies that are driving the transition of television and video distribution to the Internet puts the company in the right position as Internet TV takes off on a broader scale," said Jamie Kiggen, senior vice president of AllianceBernstein L.P. "We've looked at many opportunities in this area and believe that Brightcove is well positioned for success in creating solutions that both media companies and consumers will embrace."
The Series C financing round comes as the company continues to experience significant growth following the October 2006 launch of the Brightcove consumer destination (www.brightcove.com), syndication marketplace and broadband media network. Taking advantage of these online services, emerging media companies and independent producers have launched thousands of new commercial broadband channels with Brightcove. During the same time, Brightcove has continued to expand its well-established, market-leading position with major media companies by signing new partnerships with companies such as Warner Music Group, Dow Jones & Company, Inc., and Time Life.
About Brightcove
Brightcove is an Internet TV service that empowers video producers and programmers to build broadband businesses while giving viewers more choices and control over their use of video and television. Founded by Internet pioneer Jeremy Allaire in 2004 and based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Brightcove is the market-leading Internet video partner for international news and entertainment businesses, including British Sky Broadcasting (Sky), Discovery Communications Inc., Dow Jones & Company, Inc., MTV Networks, The New York Times Company, Reuters, Sony BMG, Time Life, Warner Music Group, and Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive.