India media SaaS platform Amagi raises $100m
Accel Partners, Avataar Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners, and Premji Invest, have committed $100 million in funding to Amagi, an India-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform aimed at TV broadcasters.
The capital will be used in part to take out two existing investors, Emerald Media and Mayfield India. Emerald Media, an Asia media and entertainment investment platform backed by KKR, participated in a $35 million Series D for Amagi in 2016. Mayfield has been invested in the business since 2013.
According to AVCJ Research, Amagi received $3 million in seed funding from Ojas Ventures and Wondergrass in 2010, and then a $5.46 million Series A led by Nadathur Holdings a year later. Nadathur re-upped in 2013 in a round that also featured Ojas and Mayfield, before Premji Invest led a $15 million Series C in 2015.
The Series D comprised primary and secondary shares, with Amagi saying that Mayfield and Nadathur retained their stakes in the business. The company said in a statement regarding the latest round that Nadathur remained an investor.
Amagi provides content creation, distribution, and monetization tools for traditional broadcasters as well as for companies involved in over-the-top (OTT) and streaming. Its cloud broadcast operations center can support more than 1,000 live linear channels. Customers include A+E Networks UK, beIN Sports, Discovery Networks, Fox Networks, Fremantle, Vice Media, and Warner Media.
Amagi, which distributes content across 40 countries, posted revenue growth of 136% for the 12 months ended March 2021. There was a 44% jump in new customers. The company claims to enable operating cost reductions of 40% versus traditional delivery models.
"The global media and entertainment industry is poised for unprecedented growth. Amagi's market-leading cloud-based technology is enabling content owners – big and small – to reach wider audiences, deliver personalized content, attract advertisers, and reduce cost of operations," said Shekhar Kirani, a partner at Accel.
David Zilberman, a general partner at Norwest who previously spent 15 years at Comcast, added that the company is truly democratizing video content creation and distribution. "Amagi is at the forefront, fueling transformation of the broadcast and connected TV industry with a platform to provide unparalleled choice to consumers around the world," he said.
This is Emerald's second exit in the past three months. In June, it sold Indian animation studio Cosmos-Maya to secondaries specialist NewQuest Capital Partners.
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