At Least $180.9 Million Was Raised by Video Companies in Q3 '09

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At Least $180.9 Million Was Raised by Video Companies in Q3 '09

Thursday, October 1, 2009, 08:40 AM ET
posted by: Will Richmond

Private broadband and mobile video-related companies had their best fund-raising quarter in a year, raising at least $180.9 million according to company news releases I received and public sources I track. At least 25 private companies disclosed financings in the quarter, ranging in size from $500,000 each for Magnify.net and Vidly to $23 million for iControl Networks. Companies across a wide range of specialties including services, devices, silicon, content, storage, advertising, search and other areas were represented.

The quarterly total blew away each of the past 3 quarters I've tracked (Q2 '09 - $64M, Q1 '09 - $74.8M and Q4 '08 - $78M. In summary, over the last 4 quarters, at least 47 different broadband and mobile video-related companies have raised a total of at least $397M, a stellar performance under any circumstances, but all the more so given the down economy, frozen credit markets and nearly closed window for initial public offerings.

In addition to the venture financings, there were at least 3 video-related acquisitions announced in the quarter including Adobe-Omniture for $1.8B (noteworthy due to Flash's leading market position), Google-On2 Technologies for $106.5M (being challenged by On2 shareholders) and DivX-AnySource for $15M. Elsewhere during the quarter, KIT Digital began trading on the NASDAQ, and Paltalk bought back $6M of its shares from investor Softbank Capital Partners. Lastly, Calix raised $100M, however I haven't included them on the list below because their broadband equipment is used for much more than just video delivery.

Q3 '09 activity underscores investor enthusiasm for the opportunities broadband and mobile video-related companies are opening up and the value chain disruption many are causing. The financing momentum also puts an exclamation mark on my post from last week, "Why the FCC's Net Neutrality Plan Should Go Nowhere." Industry investors and entrepreneurs very clearly do not need the government issuing new Internet regulations to give them confidence to do deals.

Following are the investments that I tracked during the quarter, the date disclosed and new investors identified if applicable. Links are provided to the companies' press releases, or to relevant media coverage if none could be found (note that I haven't verified media coverage with companies themselves). If I've missed anything or you find an inaccuracy, please post a comment.

YuMe ($2.9M) June 12 - Existing investors

Qik ($5.5M) July 9 - Quest Venture Partners, CampVentures

QuickPlay Media ($12M) July 13 - Existing investors

Amimon ($10M) July 14 - Stata Venture Partners, existing investors

Generate ($2M) July 14 - Existing investors

Clickthrough ($1M) July 17 - Angel investors

iControl Networks ($23M) July 22 - Tyco, Cisco, Comcast, GE, existing investors

5Min ($7.5M) July 23 - Globespan Capital Partners, existing investors

Quantenna Communications ($2M) - July 26 - Swisscom

Magnify.net ($.5M) Aug 4 - Existing investors

Roku ($13.4M) - Aug 7 - Menlo Ventures

Ustream.tv ($2M) - Aug 11 - Existing investors