Video processing and cloud video services specialist Elemental Technologies said it has raised a $14.5 million “D” round led by Telstra, Australia’s largest telco, with participation from Sky, which tossed in a $4 million equity investment.
Existing investors General Catalyst Partners, Norwest Venture Partners and Voyager Capital also participated in the round.
Elemental said it will use the funds to accelerate worldwide growth and expand its use of software-defined video products. The investments by Telstra and Sky also give Portland, Ore.-based Elemental solid business ties to two more large service providers and media companies.
Elemental said Telstra, which has begun to deploy 4G over new 700MHz spectrum, will use the vendor’s full product line, with a “specific focus” on Elemental Delta, the vendor’s recently launched video delivery platform that supports a range of services and apps, including catch-up and start-over TV and network DVRs.
“Our investment in Elemental will enable Telstra to create value for our global media customers,” said Mark Sherman, Telstra’s global enterprise and services managing director, ventures, said in a statement.
“For Sky, Elemental solutions support its current multiscreen OTT Sky Go properties, and as SDV architectures continue to mature, we believe there will be additional opportunities to collaborate in the future,” Sam Blackman, Elemental’s CEO, noted in this blog post about the funding round.
Sky has been splashing cash on a growing number of OTT and IP video-facing companies, including its recent investment in Pluto.TV and Roku, a leading providers of streaming media players. U.K.-based Sky operates three OTT services: Sky Go, NOW TV and Sky Store.
“In addition to an ongoing commercial relationship, Sky will have strategic access to the Elemental leadership team, which will help inform Sky’s long-term understanding and insight into future OTT developments,” Sky said.
Elemental, founded in 2006, already counts customers such as HBO, the BBC, ESPN, ABC News, CBS Interactive, Comcast and DirecTV, which has tapped Elemental’s file-based transcoding platform for the satellite TV giant’s new 4K offering.
Elemental has raised $42.1 million so far, according to CrunchBase.
