June 30, 2011 – PRESS SUMMARY – Animoto (www.animoto.com), the online video creation service, announced it has completed a $25 million financing led by Spectrum Equity Investors and with participation from existing Animoto investors Madrona Venture Group and Amazon.com. The new funding will allow Animoto to expand its innovative online video creation service which enables consumers, professionals and businesses to create and share professional-quality videos. The company has grown to over 3 million registered users and 100,000 paying subscribers in more than 150 countries worldwide.
“We’ve only just begun to realize the full potential of our original vision for the technology and product,” said Brad Jefferson, CEO and co-founder of Animoto. “With our rapidly growing and highly engaged user base, Animoto is uniquely positioned to capitalize on the rapid onvergence of photos, videos, mobile and the digital living room. We are pleased to be partnering with Spectrum as we enter our next phase of growth.”
As part of the announcement, Ben Spero, Managing Director for Spectrum Equity Investors, will be joining the Animoto Board of Directors. He also serves on the Boards of Spectrum’s portfolio companies Ancestry.com, SeamlessWeb, and SurveyMonkey.
“As Animoto’s user base has expanded virally around the world and proliferated to both consumers and small businesses of all sizes across a wide variety of use cases, the company has become the clear leader in online video creation and sharing,” said Mr. Spero. “We are extremely excited to invest in Animoto and support Brad and the management team as the company continues its explosive growth.”
In the past year, Animoto has launched a faster version of its video creation service, introduced HD capabilities, updated its iPhone application and created a partner platform that enables third parties to include the popular service within their own software, web or mobile products. The Animoto API, used by Kodak Gallery, American Greetings’ Webshots, Aviary and more, allows sites to monetize Animoto’s award-winning video creation service in their own unique way.
About Animoto:
Animoto is the video creation service that enables consumers, professionals and businesses to easily make and share professional-quality videos that amaze friends, family and clients. The Animoto team, which includes entertainment and technology industry veterans, has leveraged its expertise to develop a web-based service that makes it easy for people to quickly and easily create and share their stories through video using their own photos and videos. The heart of Animoto is its Cinematic Artificial Intelligence˙ technology that thinks like an actual director and editor, using the same sophisticated post-production skills and techniques that are used in television and film. The company has over 3 million users who create over 750,000 videos each month. Animoto Productions is based in New York City with offices in San Francisco and Singapore.
About Spectrum Equity Investors:
Spectrum Equity Investors is a private equity firm focused on investing in innovative growth stage businesses. Spectrum has been an active investor in digital media franchises including Ancestry.com (NASDAQ: ACOM), Demand Media (NYSE: DMD), NetQuote (acquired by Bankrate), SeamlessWeb, and SurveyMonkey, as well as information service providers such as iPay Technologies (acquired by Jack Henry & Associates), RiskMetrics Group (acquired by MSCI), Seisint (acquired by LexisNexis/Reed Elsevier), and World-Check (acquired by Thomson Reuters). Founded in 1994 with offices in Boston and Menlo Park, Spectrum has raised $4.7 billion in capital across six funds.
About Madrona Venture Group:
Madrona has been investing in early-stage technology companies since 1995 and invests predominately in seed and Series A rounds across the information technology spectrum including consumer Internet, commercial software and services, digital media and advertising, networking and infrastructure, and wireless. Madrona currently manages over $650 million and was an early investor in companies such as Amazon.com, Isilon Systems, Farecast, iConclude, World Wide Packets and ShareBuilder. To learn more, visit www.madrona.com.
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Founder of Current Photographer, co-host of The Digital Photography Cafe Show, Designer, Photographer, and overall tech geek.