May the $35M be with you, says Battery Ventures to Vidyard in Series C Funding

Velocity Garage alumni Vidyard, a video marketing platform which enables customers to derive insights into viewer-behavior for marketing automation systems and CRM tools, raised $35M in Series C funding.

Founders Michael Litt and Devon Galloway started their journey at the University of Waterloo in 2005 and founded Vidyard in 2010. After working out of the Velocity Garage, they participated in Y Combinator in 2011, Silicon Valley’s top accelerator program, which led them to raise $1.65M in seed funding, all in the same year. Vidyard quickly grew after raising Series A funding in 2013.

Two years later, Vidyard raised another US $18M and the company quickly grew to include over 100 employees. The recent Series C round was led by Battery Ventures, with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, Salesforce Ventures, OMERS Ventures, iNovia Capital and SoftTech VC.

In typical Vidyard fashion, the news was announced in a Star Wars themed video.

https://youtu.be/zVWJu4W62wQ

“Video is revolutionizing marketing, and Vidyard is clearly innovating in this space,” said Michael Brown, general partner at Battery Ventures.

“We’re convinced that video will not only grow as a strategic platform for marketing and sales, but also as a critical solution for other business functions across every industry. Vidyard can help businesses realize the full potential of video, not just as a content medium, but as an incredible source of business analytics and customer insight,” Brown continued.

Vidyard has now raised more than $60 million in total funding. The company says the funding will allow it to double its head count in Kitchener develop new products “to help businesses expand their use of video for customer engagement and tap into the digital body language of online audiences.”

From humble beginnings at the University of Waterloo and Velocity, to becoming a leader in the marketing world, Vidyard is changing the industry, one video at a time.