Video publisher platform iVideoSmart raises Series A+ funding
Singapore-based iVideoSmart Pte Ltd (“IVS”), a video publishing platform, has announced a US$4.5 million Series A+ funding from a host of investors led by Kickstart Ventures. The VC is the venture capital arm of the Philippine telco Globe Telecom.
Kickstart Ventures was joined by Darwin Ventures, and SGInnovate and returning investors Monk Hill’s Ventures and EE Capital.
The company said it plans to use the funding for commercial and technical expansion as well as business development.
As an independent video publisher in the country, the company said it has delivered over 150 million video views on 500 million pages and has reached over 80 million unique users across its network of media publishers in five countries.
iVideoSmart provides Natural Language Processing and Artificial Intelligence-based widgets to recommend relevant videos for better user engagement and more monetisation opportunities.
The company also has a “HotSpot” video solution that provides programmatic marketing for e-commerce affiliate conversions. It aims to empower publishers to deliver call-to-action and performance-based offerings to advertisers.
“We believe that we have made sufficient inroads in disrupting the market as shown by our explosive growth, especially in the last 6 months. We differentiate ourselves by profiling against content which leads to better engagement and we are pushing the boundaries of video with our affiliation and monetization suite of solutions,” said IVS’ CEO, Sze Chin (SQ) Lee.
Minette Navarrete, Vice-Chairman, and President of Kickstart Ventures thinks that video is the format that drives user engagement, and will continue to do so in the coming years.
“We believe in investing in innovations that support the entire video ecosystem — the content creators and owners, the publishers and media companies, the agencies and brands. Our next plan is to increase diversity in the digital advertising ecosystem, and supporting the iVideoSmart team is one of our means,” said Navarrete.
iVideoSmart was launched in 2016 in is headquartered in Singapore.