MUMBAI: NDS, the digital pay TV technology solutions provider owned by News Corp and Permira Funds, has led a $20 million fund raising for BlackArrow, a worldwide provider of advanced advertising solutions for new television platforms.
NDS has joined BlackArrow as a strategic investor and the two companies have also announced the formation of an alliance to offer an integrated suite of advanced advertising solutions and services.
Apart from NDS, existing investors Cisco Systems, Comcast Interactive Capital, Intel Capital, Mayfield Fund and Polaris Venture Partners have also invested an undisclosed amount in the new financing round.
This financing provides BlackArrow with fresh capital to expand product development and accelerate the deployment of the BlackArrow Advanced Advertising System to programming networks and on-demand television content providers across North American and international markets.
"We have aligned ourselves with partners and investors that not only share BlackArrow‘s vision but also stand behind us by providing a firm financial platform that ensures our ongoing success," said BlackArrow CEO Dean Denhart. "This investment further solidifies our long-term ability to help operators and programmers monetise on-demand content globally by leveraging the international expertise, footprint and complementary technologies of NDS, while assuring continued traction and execution in the marketplace."
NDS creates technologies that enable leading pay-TV operators and content providers to generate revenues from digital content on more than 70 pay-TV platforms. NDS‘ security, enabling technologies and interactive applications are deployed on over 100 million devices worldwide - across set-top boxes, PCs and other media devices.
BlackArrow‘s multiplatform campaign management and ad decisioning services align with NDS‘ advanced advertising platform, NDS Dynamic, to measure and engage audiences, thus creating the framework for the alliance.
"The ability to deliver timely, addressable advertising to on-demand audiences presents a major revenue-growth opportunity for operators and programmers worldwide," said NDS Group chairman and CEO Abe Peled.
As part of its strategic investment, NDS will have a seat on the BlackArrow board of directors.
