Germany-based online advertising marketing company Ad Pepper Media International has agreed its second corporate venturing deal in a week by backing Videovalis and Brand Affinity Technologies (BAT).
Ad Pepper was part of the $1m funding for BAT, a US-based interactive marketing platform for celebrities, two years earlier and is part of a consortium investing $20m for its series C round.
US venture capital firm Miramar Venture Partners led the C round and was also joined by the Ueberroth family’s CGI Opportunity Fund II and repeat investors RimLight Capital, Fulcrum Venture Capital and BAT’s co-founders, Chad and Ryan Steelberg’s, Newport Coast Investments vehicle.
BAT has been expanding through acquisition and bought NextMedium last January and virtual memorabilia company Beelya in February.
Ad Pepper said it had invested less than €1m ($1.3m) as part of a strategic partnership with Videovalis, a video content provider.
Ad Pepper said it owned 19.9% of Videovalis and the remaining shares could be acquired via the exercise of call options.
Ulrich Schmidt, chief executive of Ad Pepper, said: "Our European resources and infrastructure will add significant momentum and growth opportunities to this business."