Biites secures international expansion funding
October 7, 2021
Copenhagen-based digital marketing platform start-up Biites is launching in the UK, having completed its seed funding round with FirstPartyCapital, an operator-led fund that invests in digital media and marketing companies.
Biites’ platform is specifically built with long form branded video in mind, giving owners of premium content a unique distribution channel that includes powerful tools for audience analytics and automated amplification. Biites enables brands to connect with consumers in a premium, brand-safe, ad-free environment, while building extremely detailed first party data sets that can be used to optimise future campaigns and help to shape creative production.
“After outstanding success across Europe in the last few years, we’re pleased to now offer Biites to UK brands,” declared Nina Nørgaard Jacobsen, CEO and Founder at Biites. “We’re seeing a huge appetite from consumers wanting to watch quality, ad-free long-form content, offering a massive opportunity for brands who are normally limited to six or 30 second ad slots. Videos on Biites are always guaranteed a minimum average playtime, far in excess of industry benchmarks, to ensure high quality viewership and audience engagement. Biites is the premium platform for brand storytelling and we deliver industry leading video engagement KPIs that are 5x higher than YouTube and 55x higher than Facebook.”
“Our advanced technology and ad-free strategy delivers an optimised user experience, in a 100 per cent brand safe, 100 per cent viewable, and always ‘sound on’ environment unmatched by any competitor,” added Helle Jabiri Falck, CCO/COO and Founder at Biites. “The future for brands is all about connecting with their audiences in a better way. Today’s consumers expect to be told ‘why’ to buy – and not ‘how’ to buy. That’s one of the strengths with using longform quality video as a fixed part of the video distribution – and it’s time for UK brands to ensure they don’t get left behind.”
Biites will use the recent investment from FirstPartyCapital to invest in its proprietary technology stack, which will include its own video player, a world class analytics engine, and a self-serve SaaS solution. The product roadmap is being overseen by technical advisor Adam Johnston, the former head of adtech at Sky.
“We’ve been incredibly impressed with Biites,” remarked Rich Ashton, Managing Partner at FirstPartyCapital. “It’s a phenomenal proposition for marketers to finally have a solution that enables them to distribute all of their long-form video content, capture detailed first party data, and use these insights to build audiences which can then be activated across major channels, all within a single platform.”
“With an industry-leading average View Through Rate of 51 per cent and an average viewing time of 5.5 mins per play, Biites is achieving unparalleled engagement metrics, which is incredibly valuable for brands. The technology they’re building will enable brands to seamlessly amplify their content, and gather detailed first party data which is the holy grail for brands that will no longer be able to use cookies to build their audiences.”
“Biites provides an innovative way for brands to deepen their relationship with consumers while controlling brand safety,” said Denise Colella, FirstPartyCapital board representative at Biites. “Through a data-driven experience, they can tell an uninterrupted story which allows for a more memorable experience and incredible engagement. At a time when more consumers are choosing ad-free and shorter ad formats, this is a unique and intelligent way to ensure brands can still advertise effectively and creatively.”
Biites is now active in the US, UK, Germany and Scandinavia, and will continue to open new markets in 2022 in response to high client demand.