Conviva Raises $15 Million for Global Expansion and R&D

Conviva, whose software monitors and helps improve the quality of streaming video, has raised a $15 million Series C round intended for global expansion and R&D. The round was led by GGV Capital with participation from existing investors Foundation Capital, New Enterprise Associates and Pelion Venture Partners. Conviva has raised $44 million to date.

As I described last February, Conviva's software runs alongside the content provider's video player, sending "heartbeat" reports every 10 seconds about each user's video stream. This data is mashed up in real-time, so that if a problem exists, its exact nature is understood quickly and reliably. When a video isn't playing correctly, the issues can range from buffering to CDN congestion to local broadband ISP failures to other problems. Conviva says it has found that at least 25% of all streams have some issue which disrupts the user experience.

By providing real-time insight into the problem(s), Conviva allows content providers and others to take the appropriate steps to correct them. This of course translates into improved user experiences and better monetization. Conviva says it has optimized over a billion streams to date and it works with some of the biggest video streaming providers such as ABC, Fox, NFL and others.

With the growth of both live streaming and connected devices bringing online video to the TV, Conviva's monitoring role is becoming even more important. Users have far less tolerance for hiccups in the video stream when watching premium long-form content, especially if they've paid for it. Arguably, the quality of Netflix's streams has been one of the big advantages driving its adoption. Conversely, as I experienced earlier this week with YouTube's new live streaming, failures can be a real turn-off for users.

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Categories: Deals & Financings, Technology

Topics: Conviva, GGV Capital