Honeycomb, the revolutionary
video advertising delivery platform, has received a major investment from
venture and growth investor, Beringea.
Honeycomb, which was
founded and launched by the team behind global advertising delivering platform,
Adstream, has already secured backing from heavy hitters in the advertising and
production environment, including David Bell, Richard Jameson and John
Spearman.
Set up by James
Carpenter and Richard Carter, Honeycomb aims to increase transparency and
remove inefficiencies in the current advertising delivery process. By
automating elements of input and data sharing throughout the delivery chain,
Honeycomb at least halves the time it takes for media agencies, post houses and
advertisers to place orders and send assets to broadcasters and online
publishers. The data-driven platform is designed with the future of
programmatic TV and video in mind.
Unlike any of its
competitors, Honeycomb’s streamlined approach allows it to offer simple and
transparent pricing, with a flat fee for unlimited channels and VOD, across
both SD and HD content.
Having completed
detailed due diligence of Honeycomb, Beringea selected the innovative new
offering to add to its global portfolio. With offices in both the UK and US,
Beringea is uniquely placed to offer support to businesses looking to expand
into America. Out of £450 million Beringea has under management, £170million is
managed from London, making it one of the UK’s biggest evergreen venture and
growth capital funds. The team has extensive expertise in digital media, TV and
advertising, among other areas, and has recently made further investments in
portfolio companies Blis and TV Player.
With this new investment Honeycomb can continue to grow with sustained momentum, funding its roll-out into additional European markets and the U.S., after UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria and Holland.
“This investment from Beringea serves to endorse
our approach, our strategy and our overall goals,” said James Carpenter, Founder of Honeycomb. “Our streamlined model has already made an impact
in Europe with new customers signing up every day since we launched less than
two months ago. This has created a solid foundation to set our sights on the
rest of the world.
“We’re not just focused on international
expansion though. Our platform lays the groundwork for programmatic TV - a more
targeted and automated method of buying TV adverts which allows a purchase
based on audience data rather than ratings of specific channels or shows. This
is a widely talked about but unrealised concept. But with the support of our
partner clients, our individual investors, and now Beringea, we have the
capability to bring this technology to market in the very near future.”
Moritz Wuttke, COO of
Honeycomb, comments: “This latest investment
shows the value we are creating for the industry, with a product that is going
to revolutionise this sector. As we look toward our expansion into the U.S. and
the programmatic TV landscape, we now have the backing to continue to grow at
an accelerated speed.”
Maria Wagner, Investment
Director at Beringea UK, said: “The knowledge,
experience and connections of the Honeycomb team make this a really exciting
investment opportunity. It’s rare that you would get the opportunity to back a
CEO who has already successfully grown a similar business, but to combine that
with leading experts across the worlds of creative, marketing and tech
investment provides a huge amount of confidence in the ability of the team to
create a globally successful business. We’re proud to be involved with this
impressive team and look forward to supporting them on their exciting journey
and international expansion.”
Officially launching in
August 2016, Honeycomb has been operational since Summer 2015, when it
partnered with one of the UK’s leading broadcasters to operate the syndication
of content, implanting Honeycomb within their existing systems.
Honeycomb is now available to advertisers in the UK, Germany and Austria.