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LONDON, UK, 16 January 2012 – Brainient (www.brainient.com), a UK-based video advertising technology company today announced that it has closed $1.8 million in funding from a collective of strategic investors. The round was led by Prague-based Credo Ventures. Other backers include Atlas Venture (investors in DataXu, AdSafe Media, OwnerIQ) and Estag Capital (investors in RevenueMax, Germany’s leading yield optimization platform). Existing investors Sherry Coutu and 500 Startups also participated in the round.

The capital will be used to expand the company’s client services and technology teams, by expanding its offices in London and Bucharest and opening a new office in New York.

Brainient's technology helps advertisers increase the engagement and performance of their video adverts through the company’s two products: BrainRolls, an interactive video platform that enables advertisers to insert rich-media interactive elements into their video ads and BrainAds, the first and only personalised video retargeting platform in the world.

The company has enjoyed exceptionally strong growth through 2011, with nearly 100 campaigns served over the year for customers like Samsung, Volvo, Canon, GetTheLabel and GlassesDirect. BrainRolls generated, on average, three to five times higher CTRs than non- interactive pre-rolls, and customers saw click-to-sale conversion rates of up to 10% with Brainient’s personalised video retargeting platform, BrainAds.

“Last year was a very strong year for Brainient and gaining investors with local insight and knowledge from the world’s largest video markets – the US, UK and Germany – will be extremely valuable to us as we scale the company globally” said Emi Gal, Brainient’s co-founder and CEO.

“We believe that Brainient’s products will help advertisers increase the effectiveness of their video advertising campaigns while improving the viewing experience for consumers. It’s an exciting company in the world’s fastest growing advertising medium and we’re thrilled to be part of it” explained Ondrej Bartos, Partner at Credo Ventures, who has also joined Brainient’s board of directors.

For more information about Brainient visit http://www.brainient.com.

About Credo Ventures
Based in Prague, Czech Republic, Credo Ventures is a venture capital firm established in 2009 with the goal to become a premiere venture capital firm investing in early stage companies in the fields of Internet, IT and Health in Central Europe. Credo Ventures believes in entrepreneurship and the ability to take Central European projects and companies from zero to success on a global scale. Credo Ventures builds upon strong international relationships; its Advisory Board is headed by technology visionary and investor Esther Dyson and its Investment Committee Chairman is Markus Pedriks, a PE/VC industry veteran. More information can be found at www.credoventures.com or through inquiries to info@credoventures.com.

May 3, 2011 - London, UK: Brainient, an interactive video advertising platform based in the UK launches Create Station (www.createstation.co.uk), a tool that enables people to take any YouTube video, playlist or channel and create their own branded TV station.

The project was created to celebrate the relaunch of Brainient’s interactive video editor, BrainStudio, a tool that enables video creators and advertisers to take an existing video and add interactive elements to it, from real-time social media data to contact forms, polls or RSS feeds. BrainStudio is currently being used by companies like WebTV Enterprise, FOX Networks and SeeSaw and Brainient’s technology has powered over 100 interactive video advertising campaigns over the past 12 months.

Brainient has partnered with Albion London, one of the leading digital agencies in the UK, to build Create Station, enabling people to “brand” their YouTube videos. Users just have to type in the name of their station, select a theme, paste the URL of a YouTube video, playlist or channel and have their own personalised TV station in just a few seconds.

“We’re thrilled about the relaunch of BrainStudio, our interactive video editor. We’ve built Create Station to showcase some of the editor’s capabilities in a fun and simple way. It’s so easy to use even my dad could do it” said Brainient’s founder, Emi Gal.

Brainient is a Seedcamp company that raised $800,000 in VC funding last year in a financing round that included Dave McClure, Sherry Coutu, Alex Hoye, Algy Williams and led by Arts Alliance (investors in LOVEFILM, Blinkbox and Kenshoo).

For more information about Create Station (www.createstation.co.uk) or Brainient (www.brainient.com), please contact:

Sabina Balea
sabina at brainient.com
+44 (0) 7825 662 406

About Brainient
Brainient creates products that help video publishers & advertisers create more effective experiences for their viewers. The company is a Seedcamp 2009 Winner, part of the Global Entrepreneurship Programme of the UKTI and one of The Daily Telegraph’s 2011 Startup 100 finalists.

March 29, 2011 - London, UK: TechCrunch Europe, the most influential technology blog in Europe, has partnered with Brainient, the leading interactive video advertising platform in the UK, in order to take live streaming to the next level by allowing viewers to interact with the live stream at TechCrunch’s Geek’n’Rolla event.

Geek’n’Rolla is a one day annual conference that brings together Europe’s technology startups to network with investors and talk about what they’re working on. The main focus is on giving startups the opportunity to pitch their ideas in front of a judging panel. Major guest speakers at this year’s conference include Dave Mcclure, founder 500 Startups and well known super-angel, Josh Williams, co-founder & CEO of Gowalla, Iain Dodsworth, founder & CEO of TweetDeck and Tariq Krim, founder of Jolicloud.

Brainient, a Seedcamp company that raised $800,000 in VC funding last year in a financing round that included Dave McClure, Sherry Coutu, Alex Hoye, Algy Williams and led by Arts Alliance will provide its ground-breaking interactive video technology in order to make the live broadcasting stream of this year’s Geek’n’Rolla more engaging for viewers. Some of the elements Brainient will be dynamically inserting into the live stream are a live Twitter feed, more information about the speaker and an interactive agenda that will show what’s up next.

“I believe interactive video is the future, and live streaming makes no exception to that rule. Integrating social and interactive elements into the actual stream will most likely make the viewer experience better, and making viewers happy is what we strive to do at Brainient.” said Brainient’s CEO, Emi Gal.

Brainient enables video publishers & advertisers to create and deploy interactivity through a web-based video editor called BrainStudio. “It’s like Apple’s Keynote for interactive video, and it’s so intuitive even my dad could use it” said Mr. Gal.

For further information please contact:

Brainient:
Sabina Balea
0782 566 24 06
sabina at brainient.com
GeeknRolla:
Alena Dundas
alena at techcrunch.com


About GeeknRolla.
The conference will take place on March the 30th .The venue will be Park Plaza Victoria, 239 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London SW1V 1EQ. The now legendary GeeknRolla Afterparty, which will take place at the amazing, world-famous London nightclub Pacha.

About Brainient
Brainient builds tools that help agencies and video publishers create interactive video ads. The company is a Seedcamp 2009 Winner, part of the Global Entrepreneurship Programme of the UKTI and backed by a number of prominent US & UK investors including Arts Alliance, Dave McClure, Sherry Coutu, Alex Hoye & Algy Williams.

December 16, 2010 - London, UK: Brainient, the interactive advertising platform which recently secured $800,000 in VC funding has reached agreements with FOX Networks and The Times Group - India’s largest media and entertainment conglomerate - to start offering Brainient’s innovative new advertising formats.

FOX Networks, one of the largest international ad networks, is the online division of FOX International Channels. The network, which serves +20 billion impressions each month globally, leverages Fox International Channel’s TV and online teams around the world to facilitate the convergence of TV and online video planning and buying.

Laurence Ransley, Sales Director .FOX Networks, commented: “Our properties have seen a tremendous growth in video consumption and advertising and we are excited to further enhance our leading position in this market by offering innovative new formats to our clients.”

With a history of 168 years, The Times Group is a market leader across all media platforms and includes brands such as The Times of India, world’s largest broadsheet English daily and The Economic Times, the world’s second largest financial daily.

Rishi Khiani, CEO of Times India CEO commented: “Times India has seen a tremendous growth in video consumption and advertising and we are excited to further enhance our leading position in this important market by offering innovative new formats for our clients.”

Brainient is set to help both FOX Networks and The Times Group deliver interactive video advertising through the company’s flagship product, BrainStudio. BrainStudio is an innovative platform designed for publishers and media agencies to add interactive overlays to pre-rolls and other video content through a simple drag-and-drop interface.

Lippe Oosterhof, Head of Business Development Brainient, commented “Interactive video formats deliver a very compelling ROI to the advertiser but are often challenging to deploy. Brainient makes it easy for publishers to sell, run and measure interactive video formats and we are thrilled to help deliver these benefits to .FOX Networks and the Times Group as well as their respective clients.”

Thomas Hoegh, founder of Arts Alliance said: "Brainient is leading the way in a young but fast-growing market. We’re excited both by Brainient’s platform, and by Emi’s ability to quickly become a market leader in what is a complex and competitive space.”

September 28, 2010 – London, England: Brainient, an interactive advertising platform which is set to revolutionize the online video advertising industry has just secured $800,000 in VC funding. The financing round is led by Venture Capital Investor Arts Alliance, whose investments include LOVEFILM, Kenshoo, Opera Software and lastminute.com and a group of prominent individuals including Dave McClure, Sherry Coutu, Alex Hoye and Algy Williams.

Brainient has created an innovative platform that enables brands to easily add layers of interactive “add-ons” to their video adverts. Publishers & agencies can head to the BrainStudio Library and get access to “layers” which they can easily place inside their video adverts by using a drag & drop interface.

Video advertising has been on an incredible growth path over the past few years and is expected to reach $3.3 billion globally by 2012. However, advertisers saw declining completion rates for video pre-rolls (video adverts that appear before a video stream) in the first half of 2010 versus 2009.

“According to eMarketer, 36% of online video viewers click away when they get a video pre-roll before the content they want to watch. I think interactive video advertising fills a crucial gap in the market as publishers and advertisers look for new ways to keep consumers engaged with their video adverts” said Mr. Gal.

Brainient’s layers are designed to help consumers interact with video adverts. “Think of being able to book a test-drive while watching a video advert for the new BMW Z4 or ordering a DVD while you watch the new Harry Potter trailer. We've created a platform that gives brands and advertising agencies endless possibilities for engaging viewers, and we think the timing couldn't be better" said Emi.

By moving towards a more interactive advertising model, Emi strongly believes that Brainient can help boost the falling profits of newspapers, magazines and TV channels as they struggle to find a model to make online video profitable. “Interactive advertising helps brands create adverts that consumers actually enjoy, rather than forcing them to watch a pre-roll they don't want to watch. And because the results they get are three to four times better, they're willing to pay a premium, which helps video publishers make video advertising increasingly lucrative” adds Emi.

Brainient, which is Emi's third company, was founded in late 2008. In 2009, the company won the early stage UK start-up competition Seedcamp Week, and received €50,000 in seed funding. It also became part of the Global Entrepreneur Programme, a UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) initiative helping entrepreneurs move to the UK and establish their Global headquarters here.

Thomas Hoegh, founder of Arts Alliance said: "Brainient is leading the way in a young but fast-growing market. We’re excited both by Brainient’s platform, and by Emi’s ability to quickly become a market leader in what is a complex and competitive space.”