JW Player Raises $20M in Series D Funding

NEW YORK, Jan. 5, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --  JW Player, a leading digital and mobile video platform and player company, announced today that is has completed a $20 million Series D financing round. The funding was led by its existing investors, which include Greycroft Growth, Greenspring Associates, Cueball Capital, and e.ventures. The company will use the investment to accelerate the introduction of data-informed SaaS products, drive international sales and marketing expansion, and execute on its vision of creating the "Independent Video Ecosystem," which provides publishers, content creators and advertisers with actionable insights to maximize audience, engagement and monetization.

"With millions of customers, JW Player is among the most recognized names in digital video," said Ian Sigalow, Partner and co-founder at Greycroft. "The company has consistently demonstrated an ability to stay a step ahead of the market, a difficult feat in such a rapidly-changing marketplace. We see an enormous opportunity ahead of us in both our core SaaS business as well as in future media offerings, and are very excited to deepen our partnership with the company through this investment."

The Series D financing caps off a year of rapid growth and innovation for the company. Key highlights include: 

• Grew SaaS year-over-year revenue by over 100% and experienced zero net churn
• Added over 4,500 new SaaS customers, while increasing ASPs by 85%
• Surpassed 1 billion unique viewers and 750 million hours of video, or the equivalent of 85,000 years, consumed on JW Player technology in a single month
• Introduced innovative products to market, including JW7 (improved playback performance by 30%), JW iOS and Android SDKs (extended the power of JW Player to native mobile apps environments), and data-driven recommendations (already increasing video view on pilot publishers by over 10%)
• Expanded the number of employees by 60% and added key executives including CTO Brent Wood

"For JW Player, 2015 was a banner year as we successfully doubled our SaaS revenue, released several innovative products to market and expanded the depth and quality of our team," said Dave Otten, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of JW Player. "As a result of these efforts, well over one billion people now consume video on a JW Player each month, which is a huge milestone. With this new round of financing, we are poised to build on this momentum for years to come and continue our drive towards creating our Independent Video Ecosystem."

JW Player will use the new funding to accelerate its expansion of the industry's first Independent Video Ecosystem, developing data-driven solutions for publishers that offer enhanced quality of experience, speed, viewer engagement, advertising inventory, opportunities for monetization, and control over brand experience, as well as video workflow. Additionally, the company will focus on aggressively expanding its SaaS revenue and international footprint.

"Across the video landscape, the focus is shifting from 'closed garden' video platforms to an independent ecosystem that provides publishers with greater control over their owned and operated properties," said Chris Mahl, President of JW Player. "Independent publishers demand the ability to grow audiences, deepen viewer engagement, own the viewer experience, and ultimately, to have more control over their video revenue. It is JW Player's mission to partner with publishers to facilitate this. We stand directly behind independent publishers' brands, unlike closed video marketplaces, where publishers' content sits behind the ecosystem's brand." 

Independent publishers interested in how JW Player can help drive their video strategy can learn more here. 

Online video technology companies interested in joining JW Player's network of strategic partners can contact the team here.  

About JW Player
JW Player is the New York-based startup that pioneered video on the web and is now innovating for the future. Started in 2008 as the world's first open source video player, today the company's customers span the globe across 193 countries and range from Fortune 500 companies to individual bloggers. The company's flagship product, JW Player, is live on more than 2 million sites with over 1.3 billion monthly unique viewers across all devices — phones, tablets, and desktops. Nearly five percent of all video streams worldwide are delivered through JW Player. In addition to the player, the company's services include video hosting and streaming, advertising, and analytics. For more information, see www.jwplayer.com.

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