It looks like the VCs are buoyant about the future of online advertising, especially video, even if a few people aren’t right now. Kennet Partners, the pan-European venture private equity firm, is investing €6.5 million in GoViral, a global online distributor of branded video content. As part of the investment, Michael Elias from Kennet will join the board of GoViral, which is based in Copenhagen, with offices in London, Frankfurt and Paris.
GoViral serves branded video content across its proprietary online publisher network. The campaigns are distributed in local languages, on local sites and with local publishers. It works with creative and media planning agencies and publishers to create campaign strategies.
Michael Elias, managing director of Kennet (which has around $500 million in funds under management) reckons GoViral has “developed a first-mover advantage in a significant new market” which is VC-speak for “it’s going to scale fast and we’re going to do well out of it”. It also ticks a few other boxes: Transforming media? Check. Fast-growing? Check. Profitable? Check. Global market opportunity? Check. Capital-efficient? Check. Good management team? Check.
Jimmy Maymann, CEO of GoViral thinks “video advertising is a key consideration that will help the online channel become the most important advertising medium in the future.” That’s fair comment, given what we know about the rate at which online video is growing.
They may have first mover advantage, but from what I’ve heard they’ve got shonky technology and a not so startling value proposition. Well, maybe that’s why they’ve sold out to Kennet.
OMG! – Did Kennet not do the DD? Go “Spam” viral use ad networks to buy their traffic at .01c and sell it to clients at 11c! Great profit for them, not so good for clients! Its Heavy.com 2.0!
Go Go viral!
@ Paul
What’s wrong with that model? Isn’t it just monetising the long tail?
GoViral spends time and effort aggregating blog and other premium sites, sorting them into categories that media buyers want to buy and then charges for that service.
Media buyers don’t have to use GoViral’s service: if what you say is true, they could just do it themselves. Instead, they use GoViral.
So could it not be that GoVIral is adding value somewhere along the way?
hi Jimmy
Nothing wrong with ripping off clients when you can get away with it? – not so good when they think they’re buying premium (and paying high cpv for it) but getting junk?!
Not sure there is any value in that – no matter how long the tail. (MPU slots don’t have longtails…)