YuMe, the US-based TV 2.0 advertising technology company, secured $12m in funding on November 16th from Samsung Ventures, the corporate venturing unit belonging to electronics conglomerate Samsung, and venture capital (VC) firm Translink Capital.
The investment made up part of a proposed $18m round YuMe, and takes YuMe’s overall funding to about $67.5m since its founding in 2004. The total includes a November 2010 investment by corporate venturing unit Intel Capital, reported by technology finance website TechCrunch to be $5m.
YuMe’s other investors include VC firms Khosla Ventures, DAG Ventures, Accel Partners, BV Capital and Menlo Ventures.
The video advertising technology YuMe develops allows publishers to monetise their digital output and businesses to plan campaigns ranging across digital platforms. YuMe currently produces the only advertising technology to be built into televisions, Blu-ray players and connected platforms.
Stephen Lee, principal at Samsung Ventures, said: "We invest in companies that are leaders in fast-growing markets, and YuMe is a clear leader in connected TV monetisation. YuMe’s video advertising technology and three-screen expertise has the potential to accelerate the industry’s efforts to incorporate monetization strategies into all connected devices, including Samsung smart TVs."
The funding was followed by news on Tuesday that Samsung is in talks with internet company Google to roll out its Google TV service. The TV 2.0 service would allow consumers to access online content such as videos, websites and games directly from their TVs.