RTL leads US$19.4m round in ad technology firm Clypd

RTL Group has lead a US$19.4 million (€18 million) round of funding in TV advertising technology firm Clypd, in its second major investment in the programmatic ad space. 

Clypd said it will use the series B round, which was also contributed to by TiVo, to accelerate growth of the company’s platform “to help TV media owners in the adoption of programmatic TV.”

Boston-based Clypd has now raised roughly US$30 million to date, with Atlas Venture, Data Point Capital, Duke University, Transmedia Capital and Western Technology Investment also participating in the new round.

According to Clypd, the funding will be used to expand resources across all departments, including product development, data science, business development, engineering and marketing.

It also said it will use the capital to expand the business into new markets, including Europe and Asia Pacific.

“Clypd is one of the first companies to create a strong platform for programmatic sales for linear TV in the US. It offers a unique set of tools to the market at a crucial time, when programmatic video sales are growing rapidly,” said Rhys Noelke, vice-president, business development, at RTL Group.

“Clypd adds key TV sales competencies that will offer groundbreaking solutions for TV advertisers. We see great potential in the company – in both the US and Europe.”

In July 2014, RTL Group paid €107 million to take a 65% majority stake in US video advertising platform SpotXchange.

The German media group said the deal established it as the first major broadcaster to invest in the rapidly growing market of programmatic online video advertising, and that it also marked the next step of RTL Group’s strategy to become “a leading player in all segments of online video and online video advertising.”