Teads – the inventor of outstream video advertising and a leading video advertising marketplace – announced today that it has raised €43 million of new debt financing. It happened with the help of a bank syndicate including BNPP, Bank of China, HSBC, Banque Palatine and BPI. The fresh capital will be used to acquire ad tech companies. Their technology will reinforce Teads’ position in the video advertising industry. Also it is going to help to fund the company’s expansion into the Asian market.
Pierre Chappaz, Teads Executive Chairman: “I am very pleased to see that banks are supporting our strategy to pursue mergers and acquisitions (M&A) opportunities and strengthen our position on video advertising marketplace in the world. This financing demonstrates the trust they have in Teads’ management capability to keep the right balance between growth and profitability.”
M&A targets include smaller ad tech startups that develope technologies Teads can leverage to enrich its services to premium publishers and advertisers.
Regarding the expansion in Asia, Teads already has a significant foothold in Japan. The company will expand into South-East Asia this year and in China next year. Christian Guinot, former President at MEC China, is joining Teads to drive the Asian operations from the newly set-up Singapore hub.
Teads was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in Paris. comScore consistently ranks Teads the number one video advertising platform globally since December 2015. In 2015, Teads also secured a $30 million investment.
Publishers work with Teads to create brand new video inventory, monetise it through programmatic buying and their own sales force or third parties including Teads Managed Services. Brands and agencies can access this premium inventory available on the web and on mobile through programmatic or managed services. Publishers participating in Teads’ outstream video advertising marketplace include The Washington Post, Forbes, Mashable, The Telegraph, The Guardian, Le Monde, Corriere della Sera, El Pais, Die Welt, Nikkei, O Globo, El Universal, and many others.
One reasons for the success of Teads might be the fact that outstream ad units are favored by publishers and ad buyers because they open up more highly prized video ad inventory – since they can appear anywhere on a page, not just within a standard video player. Outstream ad units can be bought programmatically using automated technology rather than having to go direct to a sales team, and they tend to be less annoying for the user than pre-roll or mid-roll ad formats.
Teads has been profitable for the last 4 years – it has generated more than $140 million in net revenue in 2015 according to Business Insider. The young company has a team of over 450 employees across 26 offices in 18 countries. 100 employees work in the innovation team. Check out the video below to learn more about how Teads works: