Digital content management company Frankly has agreed to buy Vemba, a Canada-based video distribution company backed by media groups WarnerMedia and Bertelsmann, for an undisclosed amount.
Vemba has built a cloud-based software platform that provides publishers and producers with a suite of tools to help create, manage, monetise and analyse video content.
Norbert Horvath, Vemba’s founder and chief technology officer, will join Frankly as chief product officer following once the transaction closes. The company had raised more than $14m altogether.
Vemba’s most recent funding was a $6m series A-1 in October 2017, Vemba which featured WarnerMedia and Bertelsmann’s Time Warner Investments and Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments (BDMI) subsidiaries as well as video advertising platform SpotX and venture capital firm Upfront Ventures.
The company raised $5m in series A funding from BDMI, Upfront Ventures and Enterprise Fund at the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation in 2016. VC fund Rowanwood Ventures and angel investor Steven Harmer had reportedly previously provided $3.3m in financing for Vemba.
Frankly CEO Lou Schwartz, said: “Together with Vemba, we plan to create an unmatched offering of live and video-on-demand asset management, syndication and monetisation for OTT (over-the-top video) delivery.
“As a result, we expect to be able help broadcasters and other media companies improve OTT multi-screen workflows, while providing more personalised viewing experiences for audiences consuming streaming video content on any internet-connected device or social media destination.”