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Category Archive for BrightRoll

Welcoming Scale Venture Partners to BrightRoll

February 4, 2010

Today BrightRoll announced it’s $10 million Series C round of financing led by Scale Venture Partners. Rob Theis is leading the deal for Scale, and will be joining me, Vince Vanelli of KPG and David Welsh of Adams Street on the Board.

We’re incredibly proud of Tod, Dru, Charlie, Lewis and the team at BrightRoll who have built this company from a raw idea into the leading global online video ad platform. BrightRoll recently surpassed Hulu in terms of viewership, and Tod has built this company with a fraction of the capital used by his competitors.

I first me Tod through Plaxo in 2003, where he was Director of Revenue for Plaxo and I was on the board (through an investment I made at a prior firm). We worked closely together on several initiatives over a couple year period, and Tod always demonstrated his tenacity, smarts and raw talent. I was also lucky enough to get to know Dru really well in the early Plaxo days too, largely because I was always a “problem user” of Plaxo products because I had so many computers. Dru spent countless hours debugging my setups, and we became friends.

When they decided to leave Plaxo and start BrightRoll in mid-2006, I counted myself lucky to a) get the call and b) have True’s first fund raised so that we could invest in his idea from day one. I remember calling him to tell him we’d take all of the available room in his seed round, and if anyone dropped out, we’d take that too. At True, we place an unbelievable emphasis on Founders, so my prior experience with them meant a lot.

The BrightRoll journey has been as challenging as any other startup, but at every turn Tod and Dru have displayed an exceptionally clear vision for the industry, and they’ve built the company with quality and care. The team is also serious about building a real business. About one month into our seed investment, Tod called me to report on the first month’s revenue. I’m normally not one to expect revenues so soon in our seed deals, so I congratulated him and laughed a bit about my surprise. He commented that he found my surprise surprising: he just didn’t understand how so many web 2.0 startups of the time were unable to focus on revenues.

BrightRoll has been strong since the beginning, but in early 2009 we at True decided to aggressively invest behind the company. We thought the downturn presented a particularly ripe opportunity for expansion and growth, and we at True (as well as KPG and Adams Street) stepped up to fund this expansion (in a very Founder-friendly fashion). This was part of our “make the strong stronger” strategy in 2009. This was scary to some but seemed smart to us, largely due to the tremendous talent that Tod had built on his team. It didn’t hurt that he’s pursuing a great market, and did so with tremendous discipline (Brightroll’s been profitable for awhile now).

2009 was a great year for the company, and with our new financing we look forward to continued growth.

We were lucky to have many options for this recent financing, but the Scale team early on demonstrated an understanding of the company and market opportunity that was unique. At True we have a lot of respect for Rory, Kate, Sharon and Rob, and we really like what they’re building. We’re very pleased to have them on board with us.

Congrats to Tod, Dru and the entire team on an important next step towards building an exceptional company.

BrightRoll Turns Two

August 22, 2008

Here’s lookin’ at you!

The BrightRoll team celebrates their second anniversary with over 2 billion video ads served. Keep up the great work!

BrightRoll Named In Nollenberger Top 200

June 26, 2008

BrightRoll was listed as part of Nollenberger Capital Partners’ prestigious Top 200 Privately Held Companies’ list. Selections for this list are based on “technological innovation, the pursuit of broad market stakes, demonstrated solid management, investment professional backing, revenue-building solutions as well as anticipated potential for raising significant capital in the next 12 to 24 months.” This is a wonderful honor, and the Nollenberger alumni are a great group to be associated with.

Great job, Tod & team!

BrightRoll Raises Series B Round

October 24, 2007

BrightRoll has raised $5 million in Series B funding from KPG Ventures, Adams Street Capital, and existing investor True Ventures. With a proprietary video ad serving technology, BrightRoll’s approach to video advertising attracts such brands as Hewlett-Packard, Sony Pictures, and Walmart. In just six weeks, the average advertising campaign launched on BrightRoll’s innovative video ad platform will reach over 50 million unique users.

“B” is for BrightRoll & Billion

October 24, 2007

In the past year, Tod and the BrightRoll team have launched an online video advertising business, built a sustainable and scalable platform, and served a billion video ads. BrightRoll is the world’s largest video advertising network.

“B” is for BrightRoll & Billionth

August 9, 2007

True seed funded BrightRoll in August 2006. Jon and Tod had worked together closely at Plaxo. In mid 2007, True participated over its pro-rata in the Series B financing, led by KPG and Adams Street Capital. In just over a year, Tod and his team have created a leading company in the online video advertising market.