MUMBAI: Emerald Media, the Pan-Asia company backed by the leading global investment firm KKR, has been keen to invest in the media and entertainment sector. Today, it announced acquisition of a significant minority stake in Amagi Media Labs (‘Amagi’), the leader in targeted TV advertising and cloud-based TV broadcast infrastructure.
Premji Invest, the investment arm of Azim Premji (an existing shareholder), is also participating in this combination of primary and secondary US$35 million (Rs 237 crore/ 2.4 billion) Series D round. Mayfield India and Nadathur Holdings will continue to remain invested in Amagi.
The growth capital from this round of funding will enable Amagi to expand its targeted advertising platforms globally, enter new international markets for its cloud-based managed broadcast services and introduce a host of products to cater to the various needs of TV broadcasters and OTT networks.
Emerald Media is led by industry veterans Rajesh Kamat and Paul Aiello, supported by an experienced team of investment and operating executives. Paul and Rajesh together have a combined experience of more than 30 years in the industry and bring a unique blend of operational and investment acumen to their business approach.
Headquartered in Bengaluru with offices in New York City, London, and Hong Kong, Amagi is a next-generation media technology company providing cloud-based managed broadcast services and targeted advertising platforms to customers, worldwide. Amagi enables TV networks to create a complete broadcast workflow on the cloud and deliver content over satellite, cable, IPTV or OTT (Over-The-Top) platforms. Using Amagi’s patented technologies, advertisers can target audiences at a regional level across traditional TV and OTT multiscreen platforms.
Amagi has today scaled up to be one of India’s largest TV ad networks, playing around a million ad seconds every month on premium TV channels. With numerous installations of Amagi’s playout and edge insertion servers around the world, they are already a global force in the broadcasting technology domain. Amagi has deployments in over 30 countries for leading TV networks and is India’s largest TV Ad network supporting more than 3,000 brands.
The growth capital from this round of funding will enable Amagi to expand its targeted advertising platforms globally, enter new international markets for its cloud-based managed broadcast services and introduce a host of products to cater to the various needs of TV broadcasters and OTT networks.
Amagi co-founder Baskar Subramanian said, “Emerald Media has a strong understanding of the TV broadcast industry and the OTT space. Their domain expertise and regional and global media relationships will help us further leverage the transition of the TV broadcasting industry to the cloud and expand our international footprint.”
Emerald Media managing director Rajesh Kamat said, “Amagi has harnessed the transformative power of technology (both hardware and software) to change the way TV networks and brands perceive content delivery and monetisation. Emerald will assist Amagi in driving this change by providing a distinctive combination of capital, domain knowledge and management bandwidth.”
Emerald Media MD Paul Aiello added, “Baskar, Srinivasan and Srividhya are the pioneers of targeted-TV advertisement in India. Amagi’s high degree of workflow automation make TV networks future-ready compared to traditional models."
