(16 June 2008 6:30 pm)

BANGALORE: Self-service online video advertising platform for local businesses Jivox today announced that it has closed a $10.7 million Series A round of financing led by Opus Capital, an early-stage venture capital firm.

New investor Helion Venture Partners, an India-focused venture fund, also participated in the round, along with Jivox's existing investors.

The funds will be used to continue development of the Jivox online video advertising platform, as well as to expand the company's sales and marketing efforts.

The Jivox online video ad platform enables smaller and local businesses to harness the power of online video advertising by reducing the cost and complexity of developing and placing online video ads.

An official release claims that since its launch in March 2008, Jivox has seen broad adoption of its self-service online video ad platform by advertisers in a wide variety of industries, including travel sites, financial and real estate services, transportation companies and restaurants.

Jivox has also gained significant traction with publishers, who are eager to monetize the content on their sites and tap into a huge pool of smaller advertisers that would otherwise be confined to banner or search ads. The Jivox Video Network now reaches more than 40 million viewers, says the release.

Adds Helion Venture Partners Pvt. Ltd. managing director Ashish Gupta: "Jivox has built a solid base of advertisers and publishers in the U.S. as well as in India, where the rapid increase in Internet penetration is further paving the way for innovative technology products and services such as Jivox's." .

The Jivox platform combines a self-service video ad creation tool, proprietary targeting technology, and a growing network of publishers to offer advertisers a complete, do-it-yourself service for online video advertising.