Verizon Ventures secured an exit after software and computing conglomerate Microsoft acquired video discovery technology company VideoSurf on Tuesday for a figure reported by news provider TechCrunch as being just below $100m.
VideoSurf’s most recent funding was obtained in a $16m series C round in April this year, led by venture capital (VC) fund Pitango Venture Capital.
TechCrunch puts VideoSurf’s overall financing at $28m, with backers including Verizon Ventures, the corporate venturing unit for broadband and telecommunications corporation Verizon, and angel investors such as Al Gore and Joel Hyatt, the chief executive officer of Current Media.
Alex Garden, director of Xbox LIVE for the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft, said: "VideoSurf’s content analytics technology will enhance the search and discovery of entertainment content across our platform."
Founded in 2006, VideoSurf’s technology ‘sees’ frames in videos, allowing for faster and more accurate ways of discovering content. With the acquisition, Microsoft will be able to use the search technology as part of its Xbox LIVE gaming and digital media service in conjunction with its Kinect motion sensor, which will also enable a voice search system.
Another Microsoft acquisition expected to have its service incorporated into the Xbox LIVE system is internet communications company Skype, the transaction being finalised last month for $8.5bn.
Garden explained: "This holiday we will launch voice search across our entertainment partners on Xbox LIVE. Over time, as we integrate VideoSurf’s technology into our system, we are excited about the potential to have content tagged in real time to increase the speed and relevance of the search results."