Alibaba Backs Indian Video Intelligence Platform Vidooly

Delhi-based video intelligence platform Vidooly has raised $2.11 Mn (INR 15.08 Cr) as a part of Series C funding round from Alibaba and Times Internet.

According to a Ministry of Corporate Affairs filing dated February 6, the company issued Series C Cumulative Convertible Preference Shares (CCPS) to Times Internet and Alibaba (Netherlands) BV. While Alibaba picked up 4,596 CCPS for $2 Mn (INR 14.3 Cr), Times Internet invested $99.7K (INR 71 Lakh) for 228 CCPS.

An Inc42 source confirmed that the investment is part of a larger funding round, where the investment is expected to come in tranches.

The company last raised $1.4 Mn from Times Internet and GVFL (Gujarat Venture Finance Ltd) in May 2017. Vidooly was accelerated at Times Internet’s TLabs in November 2014.

Founded in 2014 by Subrat Kar, Ajay Mishra, and Nishant Radia, Vidooly began its operations as an online video intelligence software platform for content creators, brands, multi-channel networks, agencies and media companies.

With a team of over 70 members, the company has over 50K creators it has worked with while more than 500 Mn audience has been tracked. Some of its clients include TVF, OML, VideoGyan, GroupM, Mindshare. It claims to have measured more than 2 Bn videos with over 15 Mn content creators.

The analysis helps clients and partners to parse these audience and content insights in order to empower their video production teams through its SaaS offering. This also enables them to optimise their media buy at scale (growth without additional spend), refine content in terms of distribution and optimisation. The platform also makes it easy for clients to find and partner with social media influencers.

In September 2018, Vidooly introduced eSports Analytics to provide market forecasts, data tracking and consumer insights for brands, game studios, online streaming platforms and esports organisers. Vidooly was one of the 13 startups that were selected to be part of the first Delhi edition of StartupDash, an initiative by Inc42 in association with TLabs and Nascom 10,000 startups.

Some of the competitors of Vidooly include IntelliVision, Duranc Inc, Emza Visual Sense, Uncanny Vision Solutions Pvt. Ltd., Cognitifai London,  Delhi-based Corseco and San Francisco-based 3VR .

According to a report on video analytics market, it is expected to grow from $3.23 Bn in 2018 to $ 8.55 Bn by 2023, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 21.5% during the forecast period. With an increasing adoption rate of Internet of Things (IoT) and big data among enterprises, the Video Analytics Market is expected to gain major traction.