Recently, Samsung Venture Investment led a Series E investment round totaling US$ 22.5 million with a software provider, Open X Software Ltd.
OpenX teamed up with Samsung for the first time in order to develop mobile technology for Samsung devices to create a private mobile exchange platform. The venture arm of Samsung approached OpenX regarding possible investment in April 2012.
Existing investors also participated in the investment aimed at accelerating growth, broadening the adoption of its digital revenue platform and financing additional acquisitions and as OpenX CEO Tim Cadogan said, "the global expansion of the company", especially into mobile, as it competes with rivals such as search giant Google.
These existing investors included:
- Accel Partners;
- Mitsui & Co.;
- Index Ventures;
- SAP ventures; and
- Presidio Ventures.
With over US$100 million in annual revenue in 2012, OpenX has doubled its revenue since 2011.
“We have been building the company to continue to grow,” said Cadogan. The company now has 260 employees.
Samsung’s Brannon Lacey said the company invested in OpenX because it was pioneering in the space. “As an investor, it is a fragmented market and there will be consolidation,” he said. “And OpenX is best positioned for that.”
With OpenX-Samsung partnership, it means that the korean electronics giant is brought more 'closer' to the company in terms of financial arrangements and it is anticipated that OpenX will build a viable revenue program that goes across screens. OpenX had recently acquired (strategically) Lift DNA and JumpTime, which are both business optimization platforms.
OpenX said that it had grown its transactions from one trillion to four trillion from 2011 to 2012. It will be interesting to see how they do in 2013 with Samsung in the background.
