Vungle raises $6.5 million in Series A funding

In-app video advertising platform has already reached two billion video views in only a year

Video advertising is a very hot space right now, with people spending more and more time on second screens, particularly those on mobile. As the eyeballs go to smaller screens, advertisers are still trying to figure out how to effectively get their videos to play without being distorted, or disruptive and without being too slow. It's a real challenge for the industry, and one they are going to have to figure out quickly.

One company that is already making big strides is in-app video advertising platform Vungle, which has now raised a $6.5 million Series A round of funding, which the company announced on Thursday.

The round was led by Crosslink Capital with participation from existing investors Google Ventures, AOL Ventures, 500 Startups, SV Angel, Maynard Webb, Scott McNealy, Tim Draper, and others. Vungle previously raised $2 million in seed funding in May of last year from a star-studded group of early-stage investors and angels, including SV Angel, 500 Start-ups, SoftTechVC Charles Hudson, Maynard Webb, Scott McNealy and Tim Draper. This latest round brings the total investment in Vungle up to $8.5 million.

The company says that it will be using the money to hire new workers, and to scale its technology.

San Francisco-based Vungle, which was an AngelPad graduate in the fall 2011, is a mobile video ad-network that powers some of the world’s largest apps and games.

The company allows app developers are able to monetize their apps through 15-second, HD videos that integrate into their apps without being distruptive. Vungle's technology has already solved two problems that plague advertisers trying to get their videos onto mobile: it ensures that the videos play quickly, and that users do not get bored due to slow connections; and it also optimizes creative downloads so that it does not distrupt the viewer's data plan.

Vungle videos can be viewed on both the iOS and Android platforms.

Here's an example of what Vungle was able to do for one of its clients, a word game called Ruzzle. The company was looking to monetize their growing user base beyond their premium upgrades, and so they turned to Vungle. The game was provided with video ads and an interactive post-roll, appearing after users took their turns. 

Vungle was able to increase the company's video generated revenue by 1600% between October 2012 and January 2013. Meanwhile, video views increased from 450,000 to 5.5 million per day.

The company, which was founded in 2012, has been scaling very quickly. Not only has it opened offices in San Francisco, London, and Berlin, the company also announced a major milestone: it has now reached two billion video views. 

"For a company this young, to be reaching 2 billion video views is a huge success story," David Silverman, Partner at Crosslink Capital, said in a statement. "There's an unparalleled user experience achievable with Vungle, which explains why established developers and app publishers are clamoring to utilize this platform."

Vungle's customers include Scopely, Gameloft, Mobjoy, and Ngmoco:).

(Image source: https://www.vungle.com)