BlackArrow Raises $20 Million in Financing
New Strategic Investor, NDS, Joins Existing Investors in Series C Round
San Jose, CA(19 Apr 2010)
BlackArrow, a leading worldwide provider of advanced advertising solutions for New Television platforms, today announced it has closed $20 million in Series C financing. The round was led by strategic investor NDS Group - the leading provider of technology solutions for digital pay-TV, and included existing investors Cisco Systems, Comcast Interactive Capital, Intel Capital, Mayfield Fund and Polaris Venture Partners.
This financing provides new capital to expand product development and accelerate the deployment of the BlackArrow Advanced Advertising System to programming networks and on-demand television content providers across North American and international markets.
In a related announcement, BlackArrow and NDS today announced the formation of a strategic alliance to offer an integrated suite of advanced advertising solutions and services. As part of its strategic investment, NDS will have a seat on the BlackArrow board of directors.
"We have aligned ourselves with partners and investors that not only share BlackArrow's vision but also stand behind us by providing a firm financial platform that ensures our ongoing success," said Dean Denhart, CEO of BlackArrow. "This investment further solidifies our long-term ability to help operators and programmers monetize on-demand content globally by leveraging the international expertise, footprint and complementary technologies of NDS, while assuring continued traction and execution in the marketplace."
NDS creates proven technologies that enable leading pay-TV operators and content providers to generate revenues from digital content on more than 70 of the world's leading pay-TV platforms. NDS' security, enabling technologies and interactive applications are deployed on over 100 million devices worldwide - across set-top boxes, PCs and other media devices. BlackArrow's multiplatform campaign management and ad decisioning services align with NDS' advanced advertising platform, NDS DynamicTM, which provides solutions to identify, measure and engage audiences - thus creating the framework for the alliance.
"The ability to deliver timely, addressable advertising to on-demand audiences presents a major revenue-growth opportunity for operators and programmers worldwide," said Dr. Abe Peled, CEO and chairman of NDS Group. "BlackArrow's market traction in North America, combined with its approach and technology for delivering high-value, targeted advertising solutions, aligns with the needs of NDS' customers - from service providers to media companies."
About The BlackArrow Advanced Advertising System
The BlackArrow Advanced Advertising System is designed to address the complexities of advertising in on-demand environments - from Internet video to intricate cable and operator infrastructures. The BlackArrow Sales Suite enables national and local ad-sales organizations at media companies and cable operators to define, manage and fulfill multiplatform, multioperator advertising campaigns. As a result, they can now reach audiences who increasingly embrace time-shifted media on their televisions, computers and mobile phones. For operators, the BlackArrow Decision Suite offers powerful ad decision logic and proven system interoperability to deploy dynamic ad insertion rapidly in VOD environments.
About NDS
NDS Group Ltd. creates the technologies and applications that enable pay-TV operators to securely deliver digital content to TV STBs (set-top boxes), DVRs (digital video recorders), PCs, mobiles and other multimedia devices. Over 70 of the world's leading pay-TV platforms rely on NDS solutions to protect and enhance their businesses. VideoGuard® is the world's market-leading conditional access (CA) and digital rights management (DRM) technology, currently deployed on 116 million active devices, and safeguarding pay-TV service revenues exceeding $40 billion. NDS middleware, including MediaHighway® which enables a host of advanced services for subscribers, has been deployed on 135 million devices. NDS DVR technology, centred around XTV, leads the global industry with 25 million units deployed. (Deployment figures as of 31st December 2009).
Headquartered in the UK, NDS remains committed to investing in R&D with over 75% of its employees dedicated to pioneering work at development centres in China, Denmark, France, India, Israel, Korea, UK and US. NDS has also implemented a host of initiatives aimed at reducing its carbon footprint and helping digital TV subscribers reduce energy consumption.
NDS Group Ltd. is a private company owned by the Permira Funds and News Corporation. See www.nds.com for more information.
About BlackArrow, Inc.
BlackArrow is a leading worldwide provider of advanced advertising technology for New Television platforms. The company's multiplatform advertising system is designed specifically for video content distributed over any on-demand platform, enabling networks and content distributors to maximize advertising revenues. BlackArrow is privately held, and backed by Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO), Comcast Interactive Capital, Intel Capital (NASDAQ: INTC), Mayfield Fund, NDS Group Ltd. and Polaris Venture Partners. The company has offices in New York City and San Jose, Calif. http://www.blackarrow.tv