Amagi recently announced that Accel, Avataar Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners, and existing investor Premji Invest have collectively invested over $100 million in the company. The venture funds have bought out the stake held by Emerald Media (an investment platform backed by KKR) and Mayfield Fund. Nadathur Holdings continues as an existing investor.
The transaction heralds the coming together of best-in-class SaaS venture funds and one of the largest media SaaS companies globally to further accelerate the tremendous momentum for the $50 billion cloud-based video content creation, distribution, and monetization market. The partnership will provide media companies the much-needed agility and efficiency to succeed in the traditional broadcast and the evolving OTT and streaming TV universe.
“Amagi will immensely benefit from the collective experience of Accel, Avataar, Norwest, and Premji Invest in rapidly scaling our business and expanding our global footprint,” said Baskar Subramanian, Amagi co-founder and CEO. “Their deep understanding of B2B SaaS models will help us enhance value for our customers and partners. This will further nurture an entrepreneurial spirit in our employees, which is critical to building and embracing new technologies to solve complex business challenges.”
With over 800 channels on its platform, including playout and redundancies, Amagi has emerged as one of the largest cloud deployment partners in the world, with distribution in 40 countries across cable, connected TV, and OTT. In addition, it has developed deep technical integration with ad-supported platforms such as The Roku Channel, Samsung TV Plus, Pluto TV, Plex, Redbox, STIRR, VIZIO, Xumo, and other top 30 OTT platforms, providing one of the most comprehensive distribution coverages for content owners to reach their audiences in the US, LatAm, Europe, and Asia.
Amagi has established itself as the de facto SaaS platform for media brands resulting in significant growth in the last three years. The company’s revenues have grown by 136% in the fiscal ending March 21. This momentum continues, driven by 44% YoY growth in new customers, including marquee brands such as NBCUniversal, USA Today, and ABS-CBN. Amagi enables up to 40% savings in cost of operations as compared to traditional delivery models. As ad spends shift to connected TV and OTT, Amagi enables customers to effectively monetize their content libraries with its new product introductions. The company has been delivering 5-10x growth in ad impressions for some of its top customers.
Amagi provides a complete suite of solutions for content creation, distribution, and monetization. The company also has a state-of-the-art cloud broadcast operations center that can support 1000+ live linear channels. Amagi clients include A+E Networks UK, beIN Sports, CuriosityStream, Discovery Networks, Fox Networks, Fremantle, Tastemade, Tegna, Vice Media, and Warner Media.
“The global media and entertainment industry is poised for unprecedented growth. Amagi’s market-leading cloud-based technology is enabling content owners – big and small – to reach wider audiences, deliver personalized content, attract advertisers, and reduce cost of operations,” said Shekhar Kirani, Partner, Accel. “We are incredibly positive about Amagi’s potential to grow further and consolidate its leadership position as the de facto SaaS solution for media creation, delivery, and monetization.”
“We have seen Amagi strengthen their leading position in the media SaaS market over the last five years because of their nimbleness, innovative technology, and customer focus. This cements our confidence in Amagi, and we continue to invest in them,” said Atul Gupta, Partner, Premji Invest.
“Media companies are striving hard to maximize revenues and stay profitable amidst shifting consumer preferences. Amagi accurately gauged the direction of the industry transition almost a decade ago and successfully took to market pioneering cloud solutions to meet evolving media requirements. We are delighted to join hands with a dynamic brand that is cloud-born and understands the pulse of the media SaaS business very well. Building on the meaningful scale they already have, we are excited to actively support them, using our Operating VC model, to create the next global leader in the media-tech SaaS space!” said Nishant Rao, Founding Partner at Avataar Ventures.
“During my 15 years at Comcast, I saw many innovative media solutions, but Amagi is truly democratizing video content creation and distribution. Amagi is at the forefront, fueling transformation of the broadcast and connected TV industry with a platform to provide unparalleled choice to consumers around the world,” said David Zilberman, General Partner at Norwest Venture Partners. “Amagi, with its strong media SaaS play, is leading the transformation of the global broadcast and connected TV space. We are excited to partner with Amagi, the at-scale, fastest-growing media SaaS start-up in the world,” said Niren Shah, Managing Director, Norwest India.
