Advanced video advertising technology and services developer YuMe Inc. has received a strategic investment of $12 million from Samsung Ventures and Translink Capital. The company said the funds will be used to “aggressively” expand its expansion in the connected TV space.
Earlier this month YuMe announced that LG Electronics’ Smart TV platform was embedding the YuMe advertising platform, which it said made it the only video advertising technology to be built into TVs, Blu-ray disc players and other connected devices. Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A has signed on as the charter advertiser.
The agreement between LG and YuMe offers brands the ability to advertise both in the LG Smart TV navigation experience as well as in applications with pre-roll and navigation experience ads.
“We selected YuMe because we were seeking an ad serving and monetization provider for the LG advertising platform with a solution that gives both developers and advertisers around the globe access to our broad set of devices,” said Young-jae Seo, vice president, Smart TV team of LG Electronics. “YuMe’s advanced technology is flexible enough to work across our diverse range of chip sets for various connected devices, making it the right solution.”
YuMe received an investment from Intel Capital last November, and raised $25 million in a round led by Menlo Ventures in Feb. 2010. The company then acquired U.K.-based mobile video advertising firm Appealing Media this past June. YuMe is a privately held company headquartered in Redwood City, Calif. with its European headquarters in London. The company is backed by Accel Partners, BV Capital, DAG Ventures, Intel Capital, Khosla Ventures, Menlo Ventures, Samsung Ventures, and Translink Capital.
Related links:
http://www.samsungventures.com
Press release – http://tinyurl.com/7benltn
Photo by Flickr user avlxyz, used under Creative Commons license
