Amagi, a New York-based media SaaS company, announced on Wednesday that it has secured $95M in a funding round led by Accel with participation from existing investors Norwest Venture Partners and Avataar Ventures.
The latest round brings the company’s valuation to over $1B, making it a unicorn and one of the highest-valued media tech companies worldwide.
How will the funding be used?
The $95M funding will allow Amagi to accelerate international expansion and product development in the current media and entertainment (M&E) market. The company plans to increase sales and marketing fivefold globally.
Amagi will also explore allied and adjunct opportunities in the cloud and video market and evaluate the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) opportunities.
“This is a crucial juncture for our business as we look to hit a hyper-growth trajectory by creating a winning combination of goals, processes, team structures, and more,” says Baskar Subramanian, CEO & Co-founder, Amagi. “Our investors have a known history of crafting the success stories of companies with the promise of potential. We look forward to leveraging their astute understanding of the B2B SaaS landscape to successfully navigate the market intricacies and position ourselves for sustained success in the coming years.”
Capitalising $50B market
According to a new report by Grand View Research, the global video streaming market size is expected to reach $223.98B by 2028 at a CAGR rate of 21%.
The growing adoption of cloud-based video streaming solutions for increasing the reach of video content is directly influencing the growth.
As video streaming booms, with a market opportunity of nearly $50B for cloud-led solutions, Amagi plans to utilise the opportunity through its complete suite of solutions.
Founded by Baskar Subramanian, Srinivasan KA, and Srividhya Srinivasan in 2008, Amagi provides cloud broadcast and targeted advertising solutions to broadcast TV and streaming TV platforms.
The company enables content owners to launch, distribute and monetise live linear channels on free ad-supported streaming TV and video services platforms. It also offers 24×7 cloud-managed services to the entire broadcast operations.
Amagi says it has seen a 108% YoY revenue growth, a 59% surge in customers onboarded in 2021, and 112% YoY growth in ad impressions, thanks to Amagi’s dynamic ad insertion platform, Amagi THUNDERSTORM.
Overall, Amagi supports 650+ content brands, 800+ playout chains, and over 2000 channel deliveries on its platform in over 40 countries. Amagi has a presence in New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, London, Paris, Singapore, broadcast operations in New Delhi, and an innovation center in Bangalore.
Investors
Accel is a global venture capital firm that partners with exceptional teams everywhere. To date, the VC has backed over the past 35+ years.
“As the most preferred media SaaS company in the world, Amagi is leading the booming M&E industry to greater heights of technological innovation and strategic growth,” says Shekhar Kirani, Partner, Accel. “Amagi’s impressive momentum is a direct result of its cutting-edge products, superior customer experience, and talented leadership. We are thrilled to help fuel the company’s long-term success.”
Norwest is a venture and growth equity investment firm managing more than $12.5B in capital. Since its inception, the VC has invested in more than 650 companies and currently partners with over 200 companies in our venture and growth equity portfolio. The firm invests in early to late-stage businesses across a wide range of sectors with a focus on consumer, enterprise, and healthcare.
“The streaming market is ripe for technologies and innovations that improve how content owners, video platforms, and advertisers engage with customers—and capture customer loyalty,” said Dave Zilberman, General Partner, Norwest Venture Partners. “We believe Amagi is the leading media technology player, positioned to propel the market forward in the years to come,” said Niren Shah, Managing Director and Head of India, Norwest Venture Partners.
Avataar Ventures is India’s first growth stage, Operational VC fund partnering actively with regional Tech-led B2B & SaaS startups.
“The media industry has been swept up in a content storm with consumers demanding high-quality, personalized content at faster-than-ever turnaround speeds,” says Nishant Rao, Founding Partner, Avataar Ventures. “Amagi has enabled major media players to stay relevant in these times of change while helping them to extract nearly 40% operational savings through cloud solutions. Avataar’s operating VC model will actively support the very talented Amagi team to navigate this hyper-growth journey as a global leader.”
