The investment will be Samsung’s first foray into India’s burgeoning video content space.
Mumbai, February 28 – Flickstree, an AI-enabled video publisher network that increases user engagement within websites and apps, today announces a US$3 million Series A led by Samsung Venture Investment Corporation. Also participating in the round are LionRock Capital, Accretio Investments, angel investor LD Sharma, together with their previous investors Venture Catalysts and SOSV and their MOX accelerator.Â
Flickstree creates and aggregates high-quality engaging video content, and embeds these videos within its publisher partners. Videos uploaded by content creators are distributed not only through Flickstree’s own platform but also through its partner network including mobile operators, phone brands, and video apps. Flickstrees also offers its partners white-label solutions such as a video player that directly integrates into their properties.
“Indian internet users are growing fast and online video consumption has grown from zero to 60% of all internet traffic in India. All apps and websites now want to show videos to their users, if they need to survive. We help bridge this gap. Not only does video content increase user engagement, it also allows our publisher partners to earn more revenues without doing any additional effort,” says Saurabh Singh, Flickstree CEO and Co-founder.
With Flickstree’s patent-pending technology, websites and apps don’t need to pay for video content anymore, nor do they need to pay for online video streaming. They can now make money with third party videos, without any investment on their side.Â
Flickstree plans to use the amount raised to further develop proprietary technology around content. The company also has plans to expand beyond India, targeting Southeast Asian markets.Â
In 2019, it graduated from MOX (Mobile Only Accelerator) – an accelerator operated by SOSV, a US$700 million venture capital fund. Flickstree plans to leverage MOX’s expertise to enter these mobile-first, mobile-only markets.Â
“Video is a key building block service in any internet platform,” said William Bao Bean Partner at SOSV and MD at MOX accelerator. “Flickstree leverages its massive network of content creators and studios and tech-driven personalization to deliver great content to users and recurring revenues to partners,” he adds.Â
Later this year, the company will also foray into social and shopping videos and will open a new affiliate stream for our publisher partners. “Video led affiliate commerce is the next big thing and with the proper use of technology, it can bring the right products in front of the right users. I strongly believe that affiliate marketing using videos will change the way industry has been operating for decades and will bring in much more value for all stakeholders involved” said, L. D. Sharma, CEO and MD of Optimize Media Group who has also participated in this round in his personal capacity.
Â
About Flickstree
Launched in 2016 by Saurabh Singh, Rahul Jain and Nagender Sangra, Flickstree claims to have a user base of more than 10 million across its multiple publisher partners that include Samsung, Xiaomi, Micromax, Karbonn Gionee, MX player to name a few. It is an AI-enabled video publisher network that increases user engagement within websites and apps by creating and aggregating high-quality video content. Based in Mumbai, It has previously raised seed funding from Venture Catalysts, Sourav Ganguly and SOSV. The company is also backed by Facebook via its FBStart program.
