Telstra is leading a $14.5 million financing round for video delivery firm Elemental. The Australian telecommunications company is joined in the series D financing round by Sky and existing investors General Catalyst Partners, Norwest Venture Partners and Voyager Capital.
Elemental says will use the funds to accelerate worldwide growth and expand its suite of software-defined video (SDV) solutions to support the whole of the IP video delivery chain.
“This investment builds on Sky’s existing commercial relationship with Elemental and our leading position in internet-delivered video, and enables Sky to tap into the company’s experience and expertise in this area,” said Emma Lloyd, director of corporate development and startup investments for Sky.
Telstra has begun the deployment of 4G services on new 700MHz spectrum, in addition to the wide scale introduction of LTE Advanced technology to deliver ultra-fast mobile data speeds. The telco plans to use the entire Elemental product line, with a specific focus on Elemental Delta for its next-generation content delivery services.
“This investment round led by Telstra, combined with the funding participation by Sky and our accelerated growth to more than 600 customers, illustrates the momentum behind our vision for software-defined video,” said Sam Blackman, CEO and Co-founder for Elemental. “We are thrilled to partner with Telstra and Sky, two of the most technologically advanced operators on the planet. Elemental’s SDV platform combined with Telstra’s world-class wired and mobile networks will set the standard for a new generation of flexible and scalable video services.”
Announced at IBC 2014, Elemental Delta combines just-in-time (JIT) packaging, origin services, intelligent caching, dynamic ad insertion and replacement, and end-to-end encrypted content protection functions in a single solution.
