GLOBAL cloud video-production platform 90 Seconds has raised $7.5 million in Series A financing to bankroll its further expansion worldwide.
The funding is led by Sequoia India, which has invested in some of the world’s most popular companies, including Apple, Google, YouTube and Airbnb.
Supported by SKY TV NZ, Airtree Ventures, Beenext and Fotolia.com founder Oleg Tscheltzoff, this financing round aims to develop more the technology and customer experience when accessing through this channel.
“We are excited to work with our new and existing investors who understand the opportunity 90 Seconds has to completely change the global video-production landscape,” said Tim Norton, founder and CEO of 90 Seconds.
Proceeds of the company’s capital raising will be utilized to meet strong industry demand by expanding into new markets in Asia, the United States and Europe.
Also, the amount will be used to beef up the presence of 90 Seconds in existing countries, including the Philippines, where it currently has 12 permanent staff and 150 freelancers, and has done films for Delta Airlines, Johnson & Johnson, Food Industry Asia and Sony, among others.
In today’s digital world, video content is a must, yet production process remains so complex and costly.
Given this, 90 Seconds is a platform to turn to, which, since its launch in 2010, has provided brands and agencies access to a marketplace of creatives, and an automated, end-to-end suite of workflow tools.
“We are proud to have developed a solution that works for brands around the globe to deliver fast, affordable content,” Norton said.
90 Seconds enables flexible and easy discovery of over 5,000 video creative professionals in more than 70 countries across 40 categories, including videographers, directors, editors, producers, animators, drone operators, and photographers, among others.
These creatives can seamlessly collaborate on a comprehensive software platform that allows customers in the world to buy plan, shoot, edit and review professional videos—all online or from their mobile.
“The 90 Seconds team has done a terrific job in building the leading global marketplace for video production,” said Sequoia Capital Vice President Pieter Kemps.
“In the large and rapidly growing video market, they offer creative talent and agencies a unique workflow platform to work together on global projects. This has enabled them to build a fast-growing and rapidly scaling model,” he said.
Over the last six years, 90 Seconds has become the leading cloud video-production platform internationally, achieving constant growth on the back of robust industry gains.
eMarketer estimates the content marketing, video marketing, and social-media industries to be worth $118 billion and Nielsen reports that 64 percent of marketers expect online video to dominate their strategies in the near future.
Within this large market, 90 Seconds had strong growth of over 300 percent in revenue in the past 12 months.
To date, the company has worked with more than 1,000 brands and produced over 10,000 videos in 70 countries.
Its global team of 70 works on product, growth and customer success based in Singapore, London, Tokyo, Manila, Sydney and Auckland.
For this year, 90 Seconds is set to open new offices in San Francisco, New York, Hong Kong and Berlin.