Funding to support IRIS.TV’s video data platform enabling contextual data targeting for Connected TV and online video
WASHINGTON, D.C. (September 28, 2021) – ABS Capital Partners, a leading growth equity investor, has announced its participation in the Series B funding round of IRIS.TV, the leading video data platform. The new round of investment will enable IRIS.TV to accelerate the growth of its video data platform and API tools that enable video-level data targeting for Connected TV (CTV) and online video. In addition to the minority investment by ABS Capital Partners, General Partner Bion Ludwig will serve on IRIS.TV’s Board of Directors as an observer. ABS Capital’s investment brings the total Series B capital raised to $22 million. Intel Capital lead IRIS.TV’s Series B funding, with other participating investors including WISE Ventures, Quest Venture Partners, and Mirae Asset Venture Investment.
Founded in 2013, IRIS.TV helps major media companies harness the power of machine learning and video data connectivity to build profitable video businesses online. IRIS.TV provides video-level transparency to advertisers, connecting them to media companies’ video-level data using trusted third-party verification partners in a privacy-first, neutral, and secure way. This allows for every video advertisement, in every format and on every device, to be relevant, brand-safe, and measurable.
Given the increasing challenges with identity-based targeting, there is a greater need to capitalize on the rapid growth of video advertising in the connected TV space using contextual targeting services. IRIS.TV facilitates that by extracting video-level contextual data from CTV providers and enabling it to be delivered in a privacy-safe manner to advertisers.
“IRIS.TV is positioned to capitalize on the tremendous growth in connected TV, enabling publishers to better monetize their existing content and advertisers to better identify and target their desired audiences,” said Mike Avon, Managing General Partner at ABS Capital. “We are excited to be a part of IRIS.TV’s rapid growth.”
In recent weeks IRIS.TV has expanded its connected TV footprint substantially with partnerships with OTTera, Amagi, Plex, and Springserve to provide buyers with content transparency and real-time data for targeting and verification. In the first half of 2021 the company’s data footprint expanded by over 50%, and it now works with thousands of publishers, CTV providers and content owners who have streaming channels on free, ad supported TV (FAST) platforms.
“ABS Capital’s investment in IRIS.TV validates our category leadership position as the only video data platform enabling all industry participants to use contextual and brand safety data for targeting and verification across CTV,” said Field Garthwaite Co-Founder and CEO, IRIS.TV. “We are excited to be working with Bion, Mike and the rest of the ABS Capital team as we solve the critical transparency problem in CTV, one of the biggest problems inhibiting further investment this fast growing medium.”
About IRIS.TV
IRIS.TV is creating the most open video data ecosystem in the world to power more meaningful connections between brands and consumers. Our video data platform provides publishers, media companies and CTV providers with secure onboarding and activation of their video data and marketers with video-level data and transparency. Since 2013, we’ve enabled our partners to build scalable solutions on top of our platform including video-level contextual and brand-safe ad targeting, third-party verification, personalized video recommendations, and measurement & analytics solutions. For more information, visit www.iris.tv
About ABS Capital Partners
For over 30 years, ABS Capital Partners has been investing in emerging growth companies, helping CEOs capitalize on new opportunities and navigate unforeseen obstacles – while never losing sight of the ultimate goal of achieving lasting excellence. Our partners have decades of experience as C-level executives, investment bankers, and investors in the industries in which we invest. By helping to transform over 130 companies through their most crucial stage of development, ABS continues to help unleash the potential for lasting growth. Visit www.abscapital.com for more information.