Online video management company Brightcove just raised a $12 million Series E round of funding led by original Series A investors Accel Partners and General Catalyst partners.
The company is a leader in a very crowded sector. Like competitors Ooyala, Kaltura and Delve Networks, Brightcove was founded in the good times of 2006-2007 when online advertising was thought to be an inexhaustible fountain of future revenues for Internet startups. That didn’t turn out so well. Recession hit, ad budgets fell, and video serving turned out to be very expensive. Now analysts expect a shakeout in online video in 2011.
But Brightcove made a smart move in targetting high-end video producers, and bucking ad-based and the freemium models embraced by many of its competitors. The company expects sales in the $50 million range this year.
It also managed to bring on board many of the premier online video publishers. Its long list of investors includes mainstream media players like Hearst, IAC/ Interactive Corp and the New York Times.
Brightcove hopes to go public as soon as next year, though the company is open to acquisition offers, according to the Wall Street Journal.
This new infusion could be intended to bulk up the valuation before an acquisition, ensure no competitors “catch” it before an IPO, or simply grow the sales and development team. The WSJ says that Accel’s Jim Breyer asked Brightcove CEO Jeremy Allaire if he would accept more money earlier this year and acknowledged it needed more funding to build out its infrastructure. We’ve asked the company how it plans to use the new funds and will update this post when we hear back.
