VideoAmp announces $70m funding round
May 2, 2019
VideoAmp has raised $70 million (€62.2m) in new funding led by The Raine Group, a global investment bank focused exclusively on media and technology. The Raine Group invested $50 million in this growth round of financing, with Ankona Capital contributing an additional $20 million.
In conjunction with the round, media executive Peter Liguori, most recently the President and CEO of Tribune Media, will join the company as a Senior Advisor and join the Board of Directors. Erik Hodge, Managing Director and Head of the Raine Group’s Los Angeles office, will also join the Board of Directors.
VideoAmp has seen net revenue growth of more than 700 per cent over the past two years, and said it will use the new capital to scale its enterprise sales by expanding its customer success and data science teams to support growing demand from marketers, agencies and media owners. Despite being brands’ largest expenditures, these marketing investments are still valued and optimised against how many people see an advertisement rather than the advertisement’s impact on the marketer’s desired business outcome.
“With more than $35 billion in TV, OTT and digital video advertising dollars not reaching their desired customer targets each year, the entire industry needs to evolve. By optimising marketing investment to sales versus eyeballs, everyone wins. Marketers will generate more sales from their advertising dollars, media owners will better monetise their audiences, and consumers will enjoy premium video content with more relevant and fewer repetitive ads,” said Ross McCray, Co-Founder & CEO, VideoAmp. “We are thrilled to complete this round of financing and to have The Raine Group and Ankona Capital as partners, which will allow us to rapidly expand our footprint as the leading independent platform that the industry needs right now.”
“The current media environment has created an ever increasing appetite among marketers and media owners for innovative video data & measurement solutions,” added Hodge. “Of the emerging companies in the space, VideoAmp stands out for its product and technology team – led by an extremely talented and dedicated entrepreneur, Ross McCray. We are excited to back both Ross and VideoAmp on the company’s next stage of rapid growth.”
VideoAmp works with more than 50 leading Fortune 500 brands, as well as global holding companies, media agencies, and media owners such as: GroupM, Essence, Tyson Foods, Inc., A+E Networks, AMC Networks, and Tubi.