Videoplaza Secures US$5 million in Funding

London, UK, 18th March, 2010: Videoplaza, the European leader in ad serving technology for managing and monetising online video, today announced the completion of its US$5 million (€3.5 million) round of investment led by the Nordic´s two leading Venture Capital firms Creandum and Northzone.

The capital was raised to support the company’s commercial development as it continues on its expansion path into Europe. The funding will enable Videoplaza to accelerate the deployment of its Monetizer ad server platform technology for managing, displaying and tracking advertising in and around publishers’ online video content into more European territories.  

“Video consumption today is changing substantially in its shift away from television. With technology that has been specially built for the online video environment, Videoplaza offers premium publishers the best means to monetise its most important video content” said Pär-Jörgen Pärson, General Partner at Northzone, “We are impressed with how fast  Videoplaza has already penetrated the key European markets, where advertising is poised for exponential growth in the coming years”.

Founded in 2007, Videoplaza reached break-even in November 2009 having successfully built its core online video advertising offering for publishers. With offices in Stockholm, London and Paris and clients across seven different European markets, the company will leverage the investment to address new territories including Germany, Spain and Italy.

Fredric Cassel, General Partner at Creandum added: “The combination of Videoplaza’s ad serving technology and strong management team represent a compelling investment opportunity for us.. We are excited to support the company as it builds on its key role in shaping the multi-billion dollar global online advertising market.”  

Sorosh Tavakoli, Videoplaza Founder & CEO said; “We welcome the investment both as validation of our strategic approach to the market and as recognition of the superiority of our platform. We are delighted to have the support of both Creandum and Northzone and we look forward to a new phase of business success as we draw greater attention to the potential of online video advertising.”  

“All too often, publishers find themselves using legacy display ad servers to manage their video advertising inventory,” continued Sorosh. “We recognise that most online video today is lacking the commercial dimension that only dynamic ad serving can provide. What is a nascent new TV market now promises to become an industry in its own right in years to come as more publishers look to unlock the value in their video offerings. The support that we now have from our Nordic investors will enable us to address this problem effectively and to drive the adoption of our platform for the benefit of publishers and advertisers all over Europe.”

Videoplaza was advised by trusted partner Frederic Laziou of Alta Venture (http://www.alta-venture.com/) in planning and executing this round of investment.

Media Contacts
James Wood, AxiCom for Videoplaza: +44 (0)208 392 4063, James.Wood@axicom.com

About Videoplaza
Videoplaza AB, a privately owned company based in in Stockholm and London, is the leader in video ad serving solutions in Europe. Working with leading broadcasters, newspaper publishers and other premium media owners, Videoplaza offers a robust technology platform designed to help media companies maximise revenues in the complex online video environment. With the Videoplaza platform, publishers can monetise their content regardless of where the content is being consumed: on the publisher’s own site, syndicated to 3rd parties and other emerging devices and platforms. Currently Videoplaza works closely with several leading European media companies including TV4 Group (SE), Ekstrabladet (DK), La Vanguardia (ES), myvideorights.com (UK) and Incisive Media (UK). For more information, visit www.videoplaza.com

About Creandum
Creandum is a venture capital firm investing in innovative and fast-growing Nordic technology companies. The firm has €120 million under management and 15 portfolio companies across the Nordic region. All investment professionals at Creandum have started companies or been part of successful startups. For more information, please visit www.creandum.com

Northzone Ventures
Northzone Ventures has € 455 million under management with offices in Stockholm, Oslo and Copenhagen. Since it was founded in 1996, Northzone has invested in more than 70 technology companies including exited companies such as Stepstone, Lastminute, Trolltech and Pricerunner. And Nimsoft. Northzone’s most recent fund, Northzone VI was created in February 2010 and amounts to EUR 90 M. For more information, visit www.northzone.com