QuickPlay Media, a provider of managed services for distributing mobile video, announced that private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners has acquired a majority stake in the company with an investment of $100 million.
As a result of the transaction, Madison Dearborn and QuickPlay's employees own substantially all of the Toronto-based company. A limited number of minority shareholders including Difference Capital Inc. will remain part of the ownership. QuickPlay's previous investors included GMP Securities, General Catalyst Partners, JLA Ventures and Ventures West.
Customers of QuickPlay's managed multiscreen services include AT&T U-verse, Verizon Wireless, Rogers Communications, Canada's Bell, Research In Motion, Samsung and Sirius XM Radio.
According to QuickPlay, it currently manages more than 1.5 million content assets across more than 3,000 content providers, delivering video to 300-plus different device profiles.
"QuickPlay is at the center of one of the most exciting and promising areas in the media and technology services industry, and we are very pleased to make this investment," Madison Dearborn Partners managing director Zaid Alsikafi said in a statement. "We have identified a number of growth opportunities for QuickPlay and we look forward to working with [CEO and founder] Wayne [Purboo] and the talented employees of QuickPlay to achieve them and enable QuickPlay to become a global leader in this space."
In June 2011, QuickPlay acquired the network operations center assets of FLO TV from Qualcomm, which exited the business in late 2010. Qualcomm sold its spectrum holdings related to FLO TV to AT&T.
William Blair served as financial advisor to QuickPlay and Stikeman Elliott LLP provided the company with legal counsel. Kirkland & Ellis LLP advised Madison Dearborn.
