With Vidyard, Video becomes an Active Tool for Lead Generation, Qualification, Customer Insight and Revenue Growth
KITCHENER, Ontario – January 14, 2015 – Vidyard, the global leader in video marketing and sales enablement solutions, today announced it has raised $18 million in Series B funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners with participation from existing investors iNovia Capital, OMERS Ventures, Salesforce Ventures and SoftTech VC. The company will use the funds to fuel the growing global demand for Video Marketing Platform technology and to expand its product offerings for marketing and sales. In addition, Byron Deeter, Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, will join Vidyard’s Board of Directors.
“Video is becoming a game-changer for marketing and sales, and we will bet big on video enablement in the years ahead,” said Deeter. “Businesses will need to invest in a Video Marketing Platform to fuel the success of their marketing and sales efforts, and Vidyard is leading the way in both product innovation and customer value.”
Vidyard goes beyond basic video hosting solutions by turning video content into an active tool for lead generation, qualification and customer insight. By identifying and tracking each individual viewer, Vidyard helps businesses quickly identify their most engaged prospects and improve the results of digital marketing and sales programs. Vidyard also tracks which videos best resonate with audiences and influence the greatest amount of revenue, helping marketers optimize their investments and make smarter decisions.
“I’m proud to say that we’ve built the Video Marketing Platform category and the best tools for businesses to generate more revenue through the strategic use of online video,” said Michael Litt, Co-Founder and CEO of Vidyard. “This latest round of funding combined with the momentum we’ve seen in the past year – including more than tripling our revenue and employee base – further validates that video marketing has become a critical function within both B2C and B2B organizations.”
The Play Button is the Most Compelling Call-to-Action on the Web
With the play button emerging as the most compelling call-to-action on the web, demand for video marketing technology grew exponentially in 2014. Research continues to validate that video has become an expected content medium for online audiences and the most effective way for marketers to increase conversion rates, brand affinity and purchase intent. And with Cisco reporting that video will represent 79 percent of all Internet traffic by 2018, all signs indicate that the market will continue to grow rapidly.
“Vidyard has established the leadership position in one of the most exciting and fast-growing enterprise technology markets,” said Kevin Kimsa, Managing Director at OMERS Ventures, which also invested in Vidyard’s Series A round. “Video has a bright future in enterprise sales and marketing, and Vidyard is the company that will make sure it delivers real business results.”
Strong Momentum for Vidyard and the Video Marketing Industry
The Series B funding follows a momentous year for video marketing that saw hundreds of new businesses turn to Vidyard, including Act-On, Cetera Financial Group, Deltek, Dynatrace, Fiberlink – an IBM company, Honeywell, Intralinks, Square and Taulia. The company launched two new products: Vidyard Video Hubs, which gives marketers the power to easily create custom-branded video channels on their own corporate websites, and Vidyard Studio, which makes it easy for anyone in marketing and sales to create, share and track engagement in custom videos. Vidyard also expanded its integrations with leading marketing clouds and CRM solutions including Salesforce, Eloqua, Marketo, Adobe Marketing Cloud and Act-On.
“The Salesforce1 Fund empowers startups building transformative technologies that revolutionize how companies connect with their customers in today’s digital world,” said John Somorjai, EVP of Corporate Development and Salesforce Ventures, Salesforce. “Vidyard’s innovative video marketing technology extends the power of Salesforce and we are excited to help them accelerate their growth.”
Bessemer Makes an Important Bet on Video Marketing Technology
With Bessemer’s investment, Vidyard joins an impressive roster of BVP funded companies, including Box, Cornerstone OnDemand, DocuSign, Eloqua, LinkedIn, Shopify, Twilio, Pinterest and other market leaders. When it comes to experience and a proven track record in B2B SaaS and marketing technology, Bessemer is second to none. A thought leader in the space, the firm publishes the Bessemer cloud index — a listing of the top cloud companies by market cap and the cloudscape – a diagram of the 300 top private cloud companies, as well as The Ten Laws of SaaS computing. Drawing on deep expertise in the sector and a proven track record, Bessemer will help Vidyard build a new market and exceed the expectations of its customers.
To learn more about out Vidyard’s history and the growth of the Video Marketing Platform space, check out the new timeline, The Rise of Vidyard and the Video Marketing Platform. To learn more about Vidyard, please visit www.vidyard.com.
About Vidyard
Vidyard (Twitter: @Vidyard) is the industry’s leading video marketing platform that helps marketers drive results and ROI with online video content. With Vidyard, customers can add video to their websites in minutes, get real-time analytics, syndicate video to social networks and YouTube, create calls to action, optimize search engine hits, capture leads, and brand their player skins all from one place. Vidyard integrates with key marketing automation and CRM tools to deliver user-level video engagement data, turning views into sales.
About Bessemer Venture Partners
Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP) invests in early-stage, hyper-growth startups, partnering closely with entrepreneurs to build durable businesses. BVP is a global firm with offices in Menlo Park, Cambridge, New York, Bangalore, Herzliya and Sao Paulo. With $4 billion under management, BVP invests anywhere from $100,000 to $75 million in innovative companies like Pinterest, Twilio, Box, LinkedIn, Shopify, Yelp, Skype and CornerstoneOnDemand. Over 100 BVP companies have gone public-in the last three years alone, BVP has had 36 exits (IPO and M&A) and made new investments in more than 70 companies. Learn more at www.bvp.com and follow us on Twitter @BessemerVP.
About Salesforce Ventures
Salesforce Ventures—Salesforce’s corporate investment group—invests in the next generation of enterprise technology to help companies connect with their customers in entirely new ways. Portfolio companies receive funding as well as access to the world’s largest cloud ecosystem and the guidance of Salesforce’s innovators and executives. With Salesforce Ventures, portfolio companies can also leverage the expertise of the Salesforce Foundation to incorporate its 1-1-1 model of integrated philanthropy to make giving back part of their business model. Salesforce has invested in more than 100 enterprise cloud startups since 2009. For more information, please visit www.salesforce.com/ventures.
Media Contact:
Brad Hem
Phone: 281.543.0669
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