Genvid Technologies Announces Series B - Raises $27M to Accelerate Interactive Streaming Tools + Services
NEW YORK, Nov. 26, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Genvid Technologies Inc., a developer of interactive streaming technologies for game developers, media companies and sports broadcasters, announces its Series B fundraise.
Genvid's SDK enables creators to build rich interactivity across multiple streaming platforms (Twitch, YouTube and more) on multiple infrastructures (AWS, Azure), and on multiple game engines (Unity, Unreal and proprietary engines).
Indie game developers and major game publishers are actively creating new streaming experiences that are only possible with Genvid's tech stack. Genvid's technology has already been used in many ways- most recently, powering the latest Counter-Strike: Global Offensive finals on Twitch, and various 5G showcases for Japan's NTT Docomo.
The Series B funds will be used to further accelerate Genvid's SDK feature development, as well as build an end-to-end services platform for developers who need live operations, integration, web development for their interactive streams. Additionally, the company will expand its business development efforts beyond the game industry into media and sports, since Genvid's tech works as well with streaming video as it does with game-engine rendered content.
"We are already the standard toolkit for developers looking to bring rich, two-way, realtime interactivity to their games and broadcast," says Genvid CEO Jacob Navok. "Our core tools will continue to improve as new features are added to take advantage of 5G, growth in interactive television, and to support the many new digital media formats being created by independent developers in partnership with Genvid, such as the metaverse-like experiences of Pipeworks Studio's Project Eleusis."
Leading the round is New York's Galaxy Interactive, the division of merchant bank, Galaxy Digital, that focuses exclusively on the fast-growing interactive content and technology space, with an emphasis on investments in video game studios, esports, and more.
Sam Englebardt, head of Galaxy Interactive, will join Genvid's board. "Galaxy Interactive and Genvid share the same vision," says Sam. "We are strongly aligned around the belief that interactive streaming will be integral to the next major expansion of the gaming market. Genvid's technology will significantly grow the overall user base beyond traditional gamers themselves and unlock powerful new forms of content creation, consumption and monetization. I believe every company in our portfolio, especially those which are utilizing blockchain and other technologies for the creation and ownership of digital goods, will benefit tremendously from the way Genvid's technology will marry their products to the rapidly expanding streaming content infrastructure."
All of Genvid's existing investors- March Capital Partners, OCA Ventures, Makers Fund, and Horizons Ventures, have joined in this round. And Genvid welcomes additional new investments from Valor Equity Partners and K5 Global.
Together with Galaxy Interactive, Genvid's board and investor base represent unprecedented game industry insight and influence/investment in esports, game, media companies and other emerging technologies like blockchain and virtual and augmented reality. Valor Equity Partners is led by Antonio Gracias, who sits on esports team Cloud9's board, while March Capital's investments into Genvid have been spearheaded by Gregory Milken, who is co-owner of esports team Immortals Gaming Club. Makers Fund is one of the leading game content funds in the world today. And K5 Global is headed by Michael Kives, the former CAA agent who brings a wealth of media and sports connections.
Additionally, Genvid is announcing two new advisors who have been assisting Genvid over the last year. Matthew Ball is the former head of strategy for Amazon Studios and a leading thinker in the media industry, while Anna Sweet spent six years driving the growth of the Steam platform at Valve, led content strategy at Oculus and is now a games industry investor and advisor.
"The media industry has spent most of the last decade focused on shifting content online and figuring out how to charge for it," says Matthew Ball. "The next decade will be about reinventing this content and creating brand new formats native to digital delivery. Interactivity will be at the core of this opportunity. And Genvid will be one of the key enablers of and creative partners behind these experiences."
Genvid is also announcing the establishment of its European office in Berlin for business development and technical support, and its live operations office in Irvine, California to oversee infrastructure for clients. The company has over 50 employees in six offices worldwide, including New York, Montreal, Santa Monica, Irvine, Berlin and Tokyo.
About Genvid Technologies
Founded in 2016 by game industry veterans and backed by Galaxy Interactive, Horizons Ventures, Makers Fund, March Capital Partners and OCA Ventures, Genvid offers an SDK for game developers to integrate into their games and allows game developers to make revolutionary broadcasts. The Genvid SDK is a simple-to-use middleware, flexible enough to run on any streaming platform and infrastructure that developers want to support. As a result, livestreams can be monetized through transactions that are uniquely targeted to the individual watching, leading to a significant revenue opportunity for game developers through sponsorships and in-stream purchases. The first interactive streaming tools built specifically for game developers, the Genvid SDK can be downloaded for free at https://www.genvidtech.com.
About Galaxy Interactive
Galaxy Interactive is the newest investment division of Galaxy Digital, a leading merchant bank founded by Mike Novogratz and dedicated to blockchain technology and digital assets. Investing from its $325 million Galaxy Digital EOS VC Fund (a partnership between Galaxy Digital and software development company, Block.one), Galaxy Interactive focuses exclusively on companies operating at the intersection of interactive content, blockchain and other technologies, with particular emphasis on video game studios, eSports, digital objects and related infrastructure tech. The division is based in New York City and is spearheaded by Galaxy Digital Co-Founder and Partner, Sam Englebardt.
SOURCE Genvid Technologies
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