Web-video management startup Brightcove announced Monday that it had secured an additional $12 million in venture funding and hopes to make its first public offering as soon as next year. As we reported Monday, the first quarter of 2010 saw a significant rise in IPO and M&A activity for venture-backed companies, and Brightcove seems to preparing itself for one of these options in the next year.
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Josh Hawkins, director of corporate communications for Brightcove, mentioned on the company's blog that the new funding would be used toward "expansion in Asia and Europe, the rollout of new product lines like Brightcove Express on a worldwide basis, R&D innovation, and possible M&A activity."
Brightcove has three offices in the U.S. as well as offices in England, Spain, Germany, China and Japan. Much of its strategy for 2010 seems to be focused on expanding its presence in these regions, possibly by using some of its fresh cash to buy out upstart companies in those areas. The Wall Street Journal reports that the company also plans to use what could be their final round of funding to build runway before going public, and that it could see revenues as high as $50 million in 2010.
The news of Brightcove's plans to go public is further evidence of the rebounding M&A and IPO market that we mentioned on Monday, especially if investors are willing to pump money into the web-video industry which has seen less than stellar revenues. Brightcove also can serve as an excellent example for young startups looking for an IPO or buyout day of their own in the future. The company is not sitting back and hoping the day comes that it can go public or be acquired; it is making sure they have the proper capital to continue to innovate and grow its company to that point.
The company realizes that being able to go public is not entirely about having a steady revenue stream, but it is also about carving out a significant portion of its market by expanding its current products and creating new ones. Just last week the company announced it was launching a service to allow its customers to create iPad-compatible HTML5 based video players, keeping the company on the cutting edge of video management.
Last year rumors circulated that Google was in talks to buy Brightcove, but the rumors were later revealed to be false. It seems they weren't far off, however, as Google just last week announced it had acquired video service Episodic. Google, which has been picking up companies left and right in 2010, could be signaling an impending consolidation within the web-video industry with their recent purchase and rumored interest in Brightcove.
Brightcove appears to be hunkered down with its new funding and is ready for future prosperity, a strategy every startup should recognize and attempt to emulate in their future rounds of funding. Followers of Internet startups have been waiting for a major IPO for a few years and Brightcove could provide that in the next twelve months.
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