Video Ad Technology Firm Jivox Raises $8.2M

Jivox, an interactive video advertising technology company, has raised $8.2 million or Rs 40.6 crore in funding to support rapid adoption of its interactive video advertising technology, the company has said in a statement.

The fundraising was led by Fortisure Ventures while existing investors Opus Capital and Helion Advisors also took part in this round. In addition, Mani Subramanian, CEO of Fortisure Ventures, and John Squires, CEO of Akademos, will join Jivox's board of directors, according to a company statement.

"The proceeds will be primarily utilised for setting up technology infrastructure and expanding sales network across Asia," said Naren Nachiappan, managing director of Jivox India.

Incorporated in 2006, Jivox is headquartered in San Mateo, California, with a development office in Bangalore and India sales offices in Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai. The company provides interactive video advertising technology solutions for online media firms and advertisers for creating, customising and distributing online video advertisements. The company also offers various ad creation tools and enables distribution through its network of media and content websites, as well as through directory listings, viral marketing programmes, e-mail campaigns and social networks.

Advertisers and agencies run video ads on the premium Jivox Online Video Ad Network, which has an available reach of over 160 million monthly unique visitors, according to comScore's MediaMetrix dated November 2010. Jivox currently delivers more than 1,000 interactive video ad campaigns a month and enables interactive video ads to run on multiple screens with an ad serving infrastructure that can deliver at scale, according to a recent eMarketer report.

The Jivox platform is used by several hundred media companies and agencies like AdBrite, Bloomberg, Komli, Weather Underground, Sun Times Media, InteractiveOne, Starcom, OMD, FUOR Digital, GroupM and Lee Enterprises.

"This strategic investment will allow us to accelerate the rapid adoption of our interactive video advertising platform, which we designed to solve technology complexities of delivering creative and innovative online video ads at scale and on any screen. Additionally, we plan to use this investment to build our technology platform and realise our vision of bringing interactive ad technologies to all screens," Diaz Nesamoney, founder, president and CEO of Jivox, commented on the new fund infusion.

"We're very excited about its success in the market and see the potential of Jivox to fundamentally alter the way interactive digital video ads are created, delivered and measured," said Subramanian.

In October this year, online ad network and audience measurement service provider Komli Media India Pvt Ltd has struck a strategic deal under which it will be the exclusive partner of Jivox in the Asia-Pacific region for video advertising. Under this partnership, the video advertising platform of Jivox will reach the South-East Asia, the Middle East, Australia and Africa.