BDMI is a venture capital firm headquartered in New York focused on innovative digital media technologies, products, and distribution channels in North America, Europe and Israel.   BDMI concentrates on early stage investments in the digital media landscape. The company focuses predominantly on Series A and B investments, but also has a seed fund that includes about 20 companies. The initial investment range is from $500k to $3m. We look for opportunities where we can accelerate growth through BDMI’s financial and management resources and close connectivity with one or more Bertelsmann divisions.   With consolidated revenues of over $25 billion, Bertelsmann is an international media company encompassing television (RTL Group), book publishing (Penguin Random House), magazine publishing (Gruner + Jahr), music (BMG) and media services (Arvato) in more than 60 countries. Due to the vast resources of Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA, BDMI is an investor that provides not only capital, but can also support startups by using its network of diverse contacts at Bertelsmann and in the broader media world.

BDMI

Progress Ventures is an early-stage investment fund focused exclusively on the emerging platforms in media and marketing technology. We partner with experienced entrepreneurs and commit capital to promising start-ups seeking to become active and integral pieces of the digital marketing and content ecosystem.

Progress Ventures

Social Starts is a venture capital firm with a data-driven approach to investing in moment-of-inception and Series A financing rounds. The firm prefers to invest in early-stage companies operating in the technology, health tech, internet, and mobile tech sectors.

Social Starts

Third Wave is an early stage venture capital firm focused on the Digital Media sector.

Third Wave Digital

We are inspired by entrepreneurs building businesses focused on solutions for the future of media technology.

Sierra Wasatch Capital

AperiamVentures is a venture capital firm focused on the digital transformation of marketing. Our team has decades of experience as founders, operators and investors. 'Aperiam' is derived from Aperio, which is Latin for 'Open.' We live this ethos by working collaboratively with the marketing ecosystem on behalf of our portfolio.

AperiamVentures

Intel Capital invests in innovative startups targeting cloud and AI infrastructure, edge, 5G, autonomy, cybersecurity, client & gaming, enterprise applications, silicon design and manufacturing, and a wide range of other disruptive technologies.

Intel Capital

Quest Venture Partners is an early stage venture capital firm located in Palo Alto CA. They invest between $300k-$1.5MM in early stage companies, with typical investments being around $500k.

Quest Venture Partners

A fundamental investment philosophy of ‘Building on principles’ guides us at Mirae Asset. Over the years, these principles have enabled us to become Asia’s premier financial group and created new trends in the Asian capital market.  Above all, we put our clients’ interests first, always adhering to high ethical standards. Because our success clearly comes from their success, we use fundamental investment principles to identify opportunities that generate value and lasting profits.  We are strong believers in teamwork and are determined to recruit the best and brightest people as we open new horizons in Asia and expand globally. Just as we strive to continually improve our own performance, Mirae Asset is committed to helping every community it joins.  On behalf of the entire Mirae Asset Financial Group, I would like to convey the sense of responsibility your trust in us merits and pledge to do all that we can to exceed your expectations.

Mirae Asset Venture Investment

ABS Capital Partners is a venture capital firm that offers early-stage investment services to firms in the education, healthcare, and tech-enabled service industries. They specifically focus on the dreams and realities associated with helming a company beyond its initial growth spurt.  For 30 years, they've been helping growth companies reach their full potential. It was founded in 1990 by Tim Weglicki and Don Hebb and is based in Maryland.

ABS Capital Partners

WISE Ventures is an investment fund based in Manhattan that is focused on early and growth stage investment opportunities that leverage our strategic value. Led by an ownership group with deep sports & entertainment and real estate experience, we are able to assess, champion, and add value to next-gen companies in those industries.

WISE Ventures

IRIS.TV

IRIS.TV is the only data platform built for video. We provide video data connectivity to enable better viewing experiences and advertising outcomes. For CTV and online video, we structure, connect, and activate the world’s video-level data. Since 2013, we’ve enabled our partners to build scalable solutions on top of our platform for video-level contextual and brand-safe ad targeting, verification, planning, measurement, and video recommendations.

<div>Iris.TV provides a video analytics and intelligence platform specialized for connected TV (CTV) and online video, enabling marketers, content publishers and media providers to structure, connect, and measure data to provide personalized video recommendations and targeted marketing campaigns. For marketers, Iris.TV provides machine learning (ML) powered solutions that can be used for targeted contextual ad placement across CTV and online video, as well tools to measure and verify ad performance without the need for 3rd party customer data. For publishers, Iris.TVs structured data can be leveraged to automate personalized streaming experiences for users and increase monetization opportunities in a privacy-preserving manner.    </div>

Using AI to automate, enhance and optimize marketing activities

Marketing Automation

Iris.TV

Innovid & IRIS.TV Partner to Enable Actionable, Video-Level Contextual Measurement for CTV

Comcast

Comcast Technology Solutions is adding IRIS.TV to its Global Plugin list enabling any MPX client to add IRIS.TV's video personalization technology to its video players by selecting from a list.

<div>
 
 Iris.TV provides a video analytics and intelligence platform specialized for connected TV (CTV) and online video, enabling marketers, content publishers and media providers to structure, connect, and measure data to provide personalized video recommendations and targeted marketing campaigns. For marketers, Iris.TV provides machine learning (ML) powered solutions that can be used for targeted contextual ad placement across CTV and online video, as well tools to measure and verify ad performance without the need for 3rd party customer data. For publishers, Iris.TVs structured data can be leveraged to automate personalized streaming experiences for users and increase monetization opportunities in a privacy-preserving manner.    
 
 
 Key Customers and Partnerships 
 
 
 IRIS.TV’s solutions are used by media publishers that provide IRIS-enabled structured data (including Plex, Xumo, Weather Group), data partners (GumGum, Oracle advertising, Comscore), Demand-side ad platforms (MediaMath, Logiq), and Supply-side ad platforms (Magnite and Pubmatic).
 
 
 Iris.TV has partnered with a number of marketing automation firms specialized in video advertising including LiveRamp (data enablement platform), SpringServe (ad server platform for video advertising) and Publica (CTV advertising platform) to integrate its solutions and provide users with contextual data to improve cross-screen inventory targeting. 
 
 
 Funding & Financials 
 
 
 In April 2021, IRIS.TV raised USD 18 million in series B funding round led by Intel Capital. The funding was used to accelerate its product development. 
 
</div>

Outbrain is an algorithm-based content recommendation and discovery platform that curates native advertising content from the open web, providing personalized content for brands to increase customer engagement. Outbrain also allows content publishers to amplify its reach by supplying content to the platform. As of September 2023, customers could access 7,000+ online content sources including content by the Washington Post, Guardian, and BBC.&nbsp;Outbrain has been a pioneer in the content recommendation space and was the first to introduce an algorithm-based content recommendation in 2008. It was also the first to introduce a self-service platform for content recommendation in 2012. In May 2021, it tested “QualityRatings,” a tool that implements quality guidelines for the content featured on its platform while using machine learning and AI to create a more personalized user experience. In September 2022, the firm launched <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/13122">Keystone</a>, a business optimization solution for publishers.&nbsp;Outbrain has made a series of acquisitions over the years while making enhancements to its product offerings. In November 2021, <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/6992">Outbrain acquired vi</a>, a contextual video intelligence platform for USD 55 million to grow its CTV and other display ads offerings. In August 2024, Outbrain acquired <a href="https://www.adexchanger.com/online-advertising/outbrain-acquires-teads-from-altice-for-1-billion/">Teads</a>, an SSP and video monetization company, to create an "end-to-end, full-funnel platform" by expanding into TV, video, and CTV advertising.&nbsp; Key customers and partnerships&nbsp;Outbrain’s customers include leading news media outlets such as CNN, MSN, and Sky News, serving more than a billion monthly users (by December 2022).&nbsp;&nbsp;In April 2022, Outbrain’s platform was <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/9907">integrated with ID5</a> to provide a privacy-first customer identification solution.

Outbrain

Marin Software is an adTech firm offering a suite of solutions for brands looking to conduct search, social media, and ecommerce advertising. The firm’s “MarineOne” solution enables Brands to integrate their data under a single platform; coupled with machine learning tools, marketers can optimize ad spending across multiple platforms. In the case of search and social media advertising, Brands can increase their visibility across a number of search engines and social media platforms including Google, Facebook, and Apple Search Ads.&nbsp;In recent years the firm has been making enhancements to transform its Marine One Software as a complete marketing campaign management &amp; intelligence solution. In line with the firm expanded its ecommerce advertising solution capabilities by increasing the number of integrations to include Criteo’s commerce media platform and Instacart’s advertising platform. In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/12159">2022</a>, the firm rolled out a number of new product and features including 1) MarinOne bidding, the firm's ad bidding marketplace, 2) MarinOne support, to enable advertisers to improve ad performance with multi-edit ad scheduling solutions, 3) social rules engine, to help automate workflows, and 4) <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/15019">Budget Optimizer</a>, an ad budget management solution. More recently, in April 2023, the firm introduced an automation tool <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/17565">“MarinOne Scripts,”</a> which integrates Python scripting with its MarineOne platform, providing marketers with customized and data-driven solutions to optimize campaigns.&nbsp;Key customers and partnershipsAs of October 2021, several brands from varied industries, including Nissan, American Eagle outfitters, and Harmony, use the firm’s solutions.In 2021, the firm made a number of new initiatives in 2021, including an <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/7635">integration with Amazon Ads</a> and a <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/6973">partnership with CitrusAd </a>to expand the ecommerce capabilities of its platform. In January 2023, the company announced an <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/16172">integration with Yahoo</a> to broaden access to programmatic ad content.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Marin Software

Founded in China, Terminus claims to have the first account-based marketing (ABM) platform that unifies the marketing and sales teams’ roles under a single platform. Terminus specializes in B2B marketing and, according to the firm, its “Terminus Data Studio” has one of the largest B2B account databases, which by September 2021, covered more than 70 million businesses. Terminus’s customer data platform (CDP) is fully integrated with its marketing automation platform, through which teams can run multi-channel targeted campaigns across many channels including email, ad networks, live chat, and the web. This can then be analyzed with Terminus’ suite of analytics and attribution tools. By September 2021, Terminus served more than 1,000 customers, including Salesloft, Foundry, and Quantum Workplace.According to a study done by Forrester (in Q2 2020), Terminus has been recognized among the ABM platform leaders.Through a series of acquisitions, Terminus has transformed into a marketing cloud platform offering a range of services. Its two latest acquisitions took place within 12 months. In November 2020, it acquired Growflare, a lead generation and account-based intelligence platform catering to B2B startups, followed by B2B CDP Zylotech in September 2021. Terminus hoped to capitalize on these to build the most comprehensive ABM platform on the market.

Terminus

Founded in France, Brevo <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/18241">(formerly Sendinblue)</a> began as an email marketing automation platform catering to small and medium-scale businesses (SMB). It has since extended its services to become an all-in-one marketing platform; the range of services found on Brevo's platform include email and SMS marketing, customer relationship management (CRM) tools, landing page creation, and Facebook ad management, among others. In November 2022, the firm launched an <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/14388">integrated meetings solution</a> that brings together scheduling, video conferencing, and payment solutions. In March 2023, the company <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/17462">unveiled “Conversations”</a> to manage customer conversations across messaging channels in one centralized location.Brevo’s platform is compared with other well-known competitors such as Mailchimp and Hubspot and is commended for its live support and fair pricing, making it a strong contender in the SMB space.&nbsp;The company has expanded its product offering through a series of acquisitions during 2021-2022. Brevo acquired three firms in September 2021 for USD 47 million: 1) Metrilo, a provider of customer analytics and marketing services for ecommerce stores, 2) Chatra, a live chat messenger app for increasing online sales, and 3) PushOwl, a customer re-engagement website that uses web-based push notifications. In March 2022, the firm <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/9009">acquired MeetFox</a>, a meeting scheduling and video conferencing platform. In September 2022, the company <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/13360">acquired Yodel.io,</a> an Austrian cloud-based phone system provider, to enable additional customer touchpoints, and reduce the overall digital marketing spend for SMBs. More recently, in February 2023, the firm <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/16271?industryIds=62">acquired Captain Wallet,</a> a mobile wallet marketing platform, to broaden its reach internationally. In December 2023, Brevo acquired <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/24833">WonderPush and Octolis,</a> two customer interaction platforms, to expand its CRM capabilities.&nbsp;&nbsp;The firm achieved <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/15834">USD 100 million in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR)</a> at the end of 2022 while maintaining a positive EBITDA position.&nbsp;Key customers and partnerships&nbsp;The platform catered to 500,000+ customers across 180 countries as of end December 2022.

Brevo

Acquia provides a digital experience platform (DXP) to support medium to large enterprises that use Drupal, an open-source content management system (CMS) that provides the back-end infrastructure for websites and by September 2021, powered approximately 2.1% of websites on the internet. The core product offered by Acquia is a marketing cloud that provides a full suite of services to manage the customer journey. The platform features a customer data platform (CDP), unifying data across multiple sources; sales automation tools to deliver personalized marketing campaigns across multiple delivery channels; marketing campaign management tools to manage distributed marketing teams; and a content management platform to organize and monitor content.&nbsp;Having been built on the Drupal framework, which does not require any programming skills to implement, Acquia’s marketing cloud claims to be more accessible and agile than enterprise cloud solutions provided by incumbents such as Adobe and Oracle. In 2021, Gartner’s Magic Quadrant report named Acquia a leader in DXP platforms, while a study done by Forrester (in July 2021) found that customers of Acquia’s DXP solutions experienced a payback on their investment in less than six months, generating an average return on investment (ROI) of 589% over three years.&nbsp;Acquia has made several investments and enhancements to its DXP platform. In January 2021, Acquia, in partnership with Commercetools and Lucidworks, launched “Acquia Digital Commerce,” a service for creating personalized digital shopping experiences for customers. The firm has also added a number of self-serve features to its CDP such as&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/11422">“right to erasure”</a> to bolster the privacy and security features of its platform to cater to enterprise users. In&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/35334">October 2024,</a> Acquia added AI capabilities to digital asset management solutions to accelerate campaign delivery.&nbsp;In September 2021, Acquia acquired Widen Enterprises, a digital asset management (DAM) and product information management (PIM) software company, for an undisclosed amount. As a result, customers can have a fully integrated experience on the platform, while the acquisition also added a further 700+ customers. In November 2023, the company acquired Monsido, a website accessibility and optimization solution from CivicPlus, to expand its platform capabilities.&nbsp;In&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/36365">November 2024,&nbsp;</a>Acquia acquired Monsid to expand Acquia's digital experience platform capabilities.Key customers and partnershipsBy September 2021, Acquia counted one in four Fortune 500 companies, including Johnson &amp; Johnson, Bayer, and Xerox, among its customers.&nbsp;As of September 2024, the company served more than 4,000 customers globally.&nbsp;In June 2022, Acquia&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/11352">partnered with Workato</a> (enterprise-level workflow automation platform) to integrate with Acquia’s CDP to expand enterprise use of the platform. The integration added 100+ technology integrations compatible with Acquia’s marketing cloud.&nbsp;

Acquia

Firms positioned as an 'all-in-one' marketing platform,  providing a variety of functions across the MarTech stack

Startups providing platforms for planning and managing marketing campaigns.

Startups offering tools for finding and attracting potential customers with targeted ads.

Startups providing tools to automate the execution of marketing campaigns across varied channels.

Startups providing tools for gathering, cleaning, and enhancing customer data to provide deep analytics. This also includes firms offering account-based marketing (ABM) solutions to drive targeted and personalized campaigns.

Companies that use GenAI as a core part of their product offering for marketing

Personalization tools are mainly used in AdTech and marketing campaign automation

Marketing automation provides measurement and attribution solutions to measure marketing effectiveness

Uses GenAI to automate content creation  and personalize content for marketing campaigns

Uses AI/ML to enable marketing automation, making it a core part of many companies' products

Metaverse advertising is being explored by AdTech segments for in-game advertising

The in-game advertising segment is in development and has a niche relevance to this area

Iris.TV

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