Ittybit, a pioneering developer tools company, has announced the successful closure of a €1.7 million oversubscribed funding round, led by Mercuri and Sure Valley Ventures. This investment will enable Ittybit to further its mission of making world-class AI-led media pipelines accessible to developers worldwide.
With this new funding, Ittybit is well-positioned to accelerate its vision of empowering developers with unparalleled media management tools, and expand its team within engineering and enterprise sales.
Paul Williams, Founder of Ittybit, said: “Ittybit was created to address the pain we felt handling large videos in our previous companies. We built the media tools we wished we’d had access to, and are making them available to all developers, because robust media workflows shouldn’t be so expensive or complicated that only the largest tech companies can access them.”
Paul Williams is a repeat founder who brings 20 years of experience in video production with notable companies such as EA Sports, adidas, and Nike. The wider team has worked on video encoding and delivery across the BBC, Channel 4 and Hulu.
Ittybit provides cutting-edge APIs and tools designed to simplify the uploading, storing, and delivery of large video, image, and audio files. Leveraging state-of-the-art computer vision models, Ittybit empowers developers to filter unsafe uploads, enhance content searchability, and automate tagging and transcription processes. A standout feature of Ittybit’s offering is its innovative AI-based compression tool (akin to those used by industry giants like Netflix and Meta) which ensures faster downloads and reduced storage costs without compromising visual quality.
The demand for high-quality media management solutions has never been greater. In 2022, video accounted for an estimated 82% of consumer internet traffic, with HD and UHD video content volume quadrupling since 2017. The rise of generative AI is set to further accelerate the creation of personalised media content, while trends in private video storage continue to surge with the proliferation of bodycams, dashcams, home security cameras, AR headsets, and smart glasses. However, media files are often large, hard to search for, and come with lots of challenging edge cases. So, developers have had to reach for complicated custom servers or pay for expensive specialised services.
James Pringle, Principal at Mercuri, added: “Mercuri is thrilled to invest in Ittybit, recognising that the future of media lies in instant delivery. As specialists in media and creative industries, we see Ittybit as a groundbreaking solution that excels in speed, quality, and cost-efficiency. While it’s still early, we are enthusiastic about Ittybit’s potential to significantly impact and grow within the dynamic media landscape.”
Brian Kinane, Founding Partner, Sure Valley Ventures, commented: “Ittybit’s proprietary Machine Learning solution is transforming the costs of hosting media for both SMEs and Enterprises globally. We are delighted to back a Manchester-based, cutting-edge AI company who are well-positioned to execute on their mission to democratise media hosting, at a time when the innovation of multimodal large language models is enabling content creation at an unprecedented scale. This deal is a great example of why we established a northern office in Manchester – to find high growth AI companies with significant global potential.”
