Media cloud tech startup Amagi is unicorn after Accel funding

[BENGALURU] Amagi, a New York-based startup that offers cloud-based broadcast and targeted-ad services to media companies, increased its valuation to more than US$1 billion in a funding round led by Accel.

The company raised US$95 million to reach so-called unicorn status, with Norwest Venture Partners and Avataar Ventures among investors participating in the fundraising, it said in a statement on Wednesday (Mar 16).

The startup's clients include NBCUniversal, CBS, USA Today and Japan's Rakuten Group

Amagi's technology helps media companies create, distribute and monetise streamed content. Demand for its services is rising as consumers worldwide binge on movies and TV shows, with the pandemic providing an added boost.

"A huge transformation is happening in content creation and consumption, and we've grown at over 100 per cent annual rates for the last 3 years," said Baskar Subramanian, Amagi's co-founder and chief executive officer, based in Bangalore, India. "We see the growth trend continuing for the next 10 years or more."

With the fresh funding, Amagi plans to quintuple its global marketing efforts, increase its product offerings, and make acquisitions to fuel international expansion.

Subramanian and 2 of his engineering school classmates founded Amagi in 2009 and its first offering was geo-targeted TV ads for India's broadcasters.

In 2015, the founders began building a cloud-based ad platform betting on 2 trends - that consumers would move to streaming services and that broadcasters would adopt its pay-as-you-go software model.

"It took longer than we expected," Subramanian said, but now "TV sets are all connected, a new set of content creators are building richer content that's being consumed via apps, and ad dollars have started coming in."

Amagi's platform connects content owners and distribution channels. Its customers increased by 59 per cent in 2021 are now spread over 40 countries. The company supports over half a million content brands and more than 2,000 delivery channels. BLOOMBERG