Accel, Avataar Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners and existing investor Premji Invest have collectively invested over $100 million in Amagi. The venture funds have bought out the stake held by Emerald Media (an investment platform backed by KKR) and Mayfield India. Nadathur Holdings continues as an existing investor.
The transaction heralds the coming together of SaaS venture funds and one of the largest media SaaS companies globally to further accelerate the momentum for the $50 billion cloud-based video content creation, distribution and monetisation market.
“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 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’s revenues have grown by 136% in the fiscal year ending March 2021. This momentum continues, driven by 44% YoY growth in new customers, including marquee brands such as NBCUniversal, USA Today and ABS-CBN.
“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 personalised 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 monetisation.”
“We have seen Amagi strengthen its leading position in the media SaaS market over the last five years because of its 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 maximise revenues and stay profitable amid 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 democratising video content creation and distribution. Amagi is at the forefront, fuelling 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.
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