Deal focus: 90 Seconds simplifies complex video variables

Making a video that is sufficiently engaging for a modern audience awash with competing media content has become a team effort seemingly on par with launching a rocket. The trend is especially clear at the Hollywood end of the spectrum, but increasingly problematic for routine commercial promotions as well.

This has become a serious issue for companies like Google, American Airlines, Kraft, McDonald's, and Amazon, all of which have engaged Singapore start-up 90 Seconds to put together video production teams for their TV and online publicity campaigns. 90 Seconds makes this happen through a cloud-connected marketplace that networks 12,000 video production professionals including directors, animators, and drone operators across more than 900 cities globally.

"In recent years, most successful marketplaces have been relatively simple in the sense that they pair one seller and buyer," says Ulric Ferner, a principal at Right Click Capital. "What is fascinating about the next phase of marketplaces is that they are now able to execute on more complex models where you have multiple parties coordinating on both the buy and sell side. It's really impressive that 90 Seconds has cracked that nut, disrupting video production."

Right Click is joining a group including Susquehanna International Group (SIG), AirTree Ventures, and Sequoia Capital India in a $20 million Series B for the company that will support an expansion of network contacts, as well as new market intelligence and automation strategies. 

The immediate priority, however, will be deepening relationships with media platforms including Google and Facebook as a means of giving brands greater transparency about the benefits of video-related advertising. This effort is expected to leverage an explosion in handset video consumption. 90 Seconds flags data from eMarketer that finds mobile has become a primary format for video viewing, with more than three-quarters of global consumers now using their phones to watch content.

Comprehensive global penetration – the kind that reaches end-customers in remote regions with accelerating mobile uptake – is therefore the name of the game. As an indicator of 90 Second's potential to reach this level of ubiquity, the company claims to have grown more than 400% in the past three years, having so far created 30,000 videos for more than 3,000 brands including Jaguar, Moet Hennessy, Zalora, Visa, PayPal, Sony, Samsung, Barclays, and Microsoft.

"We believe that complex marketplace concepts can scale to become essential infrastructure for the marketing agency industry, and this round gives 90 Seconds a huge amount of firepower to do so globally," says Ferner. "The challenge is ensuring there's tight balance between marketplace supply and demand so that service provider experience quality stays high with complex teams across time zones. That's where 90 Seconds is already having major impact."  

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• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Early-stage
• Media
• Technology
• Singapore
• TMT
• Susquehanna Asia Investment
• AirTree Ventures
• Sequoia Capital