Telstra has invested directly in Elemental Technologies, leading a $14.5 million Series D round of funding joined by Sky, another Elemental customer that had previously invested in the vendor.
They were joined by General Catalyst Partners, Norwest Venture Partners and Voyager Capital, who all have also participated in earlier financing rounds.
Elemental said it will use the funds to accelerate worldwide growth and expand its suite of software-defined video (SDV) solutions to support the whole of the IP video delivery chain.
The company’s SDV approach is tied to its Elemental Delta system, introduced a few months ago. Delta combines just-in-time (JIT) packaging, origin services, intelligent caching, dynamic ad insertion and replacement, and end-to-end encrypted content protection functions.
Sky has been using Elemental’s products to support multi-screen delivery of on-demand content for its SkyGo service.
Telstra is a more recent customer. The company is Australia’s leading mobile services provider, but also has operations elsewhere in the Asia Pacific region and in Europe. Elemental noted that Telstra has begun the deployment of 4G services on 700 MHz spectrum, in addition to the wide scale introduction of LTE Advanced. The company earlier this year acknowledged a commitment to software-defined networking (SDN) with the announcement of a deals for networking equipment from Ericsson and Ciena. Ericsson earlier adopted Elemental’s SDV solutions in its own product suite.
Elemental Technologies’ chief marketing officer Keith Wymbs said Telstra’s ambitions are global, and that Elemental Delta will be a critical element in the delivery of all sorts of services, along with other Elemental products.
By becoming investors, Wymbs explained, Elemental and its investor/customers can share more about strategic goals and how to get there – aligning their interests.
Elemental CEO Sam Blackman referred to that kind of alignment in a blog post today, in which he wrote, “why is now the right time for Elemental to accept strategic investment from key customers? As with any financing round, the timing and the deal need to be right. But fundamentally,it boils down to a shared belief that we can all evolve faster if we’re strategically aligned around a core goal of transforming the media landscape. In many ways, 2015 will mark an inflection point for the video industry as content creators and aggregators deliver ever-more innovative multiscreen services.”
“With its software-defined video processing and delivery solutions, Elemental is at the forefront of video delivery and the evolution of content monetization. Our investment in Elemental will enable Telstra to create value for our global media customers,” said Mark Sherman, Global Enterprise and Services Managing Director, Ventures, for Telstra. “Elemental’s unique offer provides the flexibility and scalability to ensure a great customer experience despite high network traffic demands.”
