Company Launches with $5.5 Million Series A Funding from General Catalyst Partners and Accel Partners
CAMBRIDGE, MASS - MARCH 1, 2005 - With executive leaders from the cable, Internet and satellite markets, Brightcove, Inc., was today unveiled as a new online television and video distribution company where mainstream and emerging video content publishers and programmers can offer their products directly to consumers over the Internet.
Brightcove was established to take advantage of the convergence of the Internet and television, a trend that is spawning the birth of hundreds of thousands of individual programs and channels online. The company will provide an online service that offers video publishers and programmers an Internet distribution channel for their products and will offer consumers a rich set of services for accessing and using this programming. Brightcove executives bring more than 40 years of successful experience from companies such as Allaire, ATG, British Sky Broadcasting (BskyB), Comcast, Macromedia and News Corporation.
"From production and distribution to marketing and viewing, television's business model is undergoing a significant transformation," said Jeremy Allaire, founder and CEO of Brightcove. "We are working towards a world where television and video production and distribution are much more democratized and where a creative spark, a camera, and a computer are all it takes to put television programming before the eyes of the consumer. Hundreds of mainstream video providers will make this transition, and thousands more will be born."
Brightcove also announced today that it has closed $5.5 million in Series A funding from General Catalyst Partners and Accel Partners. The funding will be used for product and service development, business development, recruiting and general operations.
Television and the Internet Converge
The market for Internet television and online video is growing significantly, as demonstrated by trends such as:
- Global adoption of broadband Internet connectivity, creating an unencumbered distribution pipe for high-quality media
- The proliferation of home networking, connecting multiple PCs, TVs, and other devices to the network
- The development of rich media formats that provide a quality and secure viewing experience for video across any number of devices
- The growth of portable devices capable of carrying Internet-based video programming
- The rapid growth in streaming video and online video and rich media advertising
- The diminishing cost of producing quality commercial video products using inexpensive PC workstations and software
The landscape emerging from these trends is one that looks very much like the Web and Internet consumers use today; a world of open file formats and platforms available to anyone, unencumbered by physical, geographic or monopolistic constraints. Many of the thousands of companies involved in the production, packaging and distribution of television will make this shift, and many more will emerge, creating an explosion in original video programming.
Brightcove is being launched to capitalize on these converging trends and provide a service that will offer television and video publishers and programmers an Internet distribution channel for their products; and will offer consumers a rich set of services for accessing and using this programming. The Brightcove service will integrate into the broad Internet content ecosystem, and enable and service publishers of all sizes - from video bloggers, to broadcast and VOD startups, to established cable programmers.
"I haven't yet seen any of these startups straddle the whole value chain, and Brightcove might be among the first," said Rafat Ali, Publisher and Editor of Paidcontent.org. "A consumer video service, a back end service, and other allied services needed for everyone from small publishers, like bloggers, to small-to-mid sized media companies and on line VOD startups, to develop and distribute video easily and cost-effectively. In essence, an open-publishing model."
The Brightcove Team
Led by Allaire, the former chief technology officer of Macromedia and co-founder of Allaire Corp, the Brightcove founding team has more than 40 years of combined experience and successful leadership in:
- E-commerce, content management and personalization
- Rich media platforms
- Broadband consumer services
- Cable and Satellite video distribution
As part of the Series A financing, Jim Breyer of Accel Partners and David Orfao of General Catalyst Partners will be joining Brightcove's board of directors. Breyer and Orfao bring more than 20 years of experience building and supporting successful, industry leading entities including Lotus, Apple, Macromedia, Real Networks, Wal-Mart and Allaire Corp.
About Brightcove
Located in Cambridge, Mass., Brightcove develops services that offer television and video publishers and programmers an Internet-based distribution channel for their television products, as well as a consumer facing service for accessing and using this programming.