Fliqz is Acquired by VBrick, Another OVP Bites the Dust

News of more consolidation within the online video platform space came earlier this week with the announcement that Emeryville, CA-based Fliqz has been acquired by enterprise IP video pioneer VBrick. In a press release issued on Tuesday, Wallingford, Conn.-based VBrick announced that it has acquired the assets of Fliqz, and will merge Fliqz's SaaS-based online video platform with its video streaming product VBoss (VBrick's Online Streaming Service) to further grow and expand its offerings and customer base. VBrick noted that the Fliqz service "brings a strong on-demand component to VBrick’s already strong existing SaaS offering and also gives VBrick access to the small-and medium-sized business (SMB) market."


While no financial terms of the acquisition were disclosed, Jonathan Marino of peHUB suggested that "Fliqz investors took a bath" and that two of his sources confirmed that Fliqz was sold for less than its three rounds of funding which totaled $12 million. Marino noted that, "one of the sources acknowledged the sale process, run through Lighthouse Capital Partners, only attracted $1.4 million from VBrick."

Fliqz was founded by Benjamin Wayne in 2005 as a white-label plug-and-play video platform specializing in video SEO. Fliqz is in use by more than 35,000 websites with a wide variety customers including the US Army MLB, Monster, Rackspace, WebMD, Expedia, Sony, VH1, T-Mobile, Nokia and many others. Fliqz offers 5 different SaaS video solution packages and launched SearchSuccess in November 2009 as as an add-on to Fliqz's Gold video solution. Fliqz said that more than two-thirds of all videos submitted to SearchSuccess produce a first-page Google search result, and up to 25% have resulted in a number one Google ranking.

Just two years ago, Fliqz was recognized as a "Contender" in the Forrester Research report, The Forrester Wave™: US Online Video Platforms, Q4 2009, which evaluated six leading online video platform vendors. Brightcove and Ooyala led the pack with their end-to-end product offerings that target organizations of all sizes. VMIX and Kaltura followed closely behind with comprehensive offerings and are Strong Performers, while Twistage and Fliqz served more narrow segments of the market and were noted as Contenders. Wayne received some notoriety as the "YouTube Is Doomed" guy from his Business Insider post from a few years ago. He's recognized though as an industry expert in video marketing and spoke with Reel SEO in this video about the importance of  video SEO. According to Wayne, "video is fundamentally a marketing tool," and that video SEO is the "neglected gold mine" in the online space.



Kris Drey, Vidcompare Founder is the former VP of Marketing at Fliqz and provided a unique perspective on the Vidcompare blog:

"Fliqz was one of the early OVPs (when the term OVP was popularized) to mass-market SaaS-based B2B2C video platform services bringing the notion of using online video for marketing purposes to the forefront of corporate online marketers. In fact, I helped build the first version of this solution with Benjamin Wayne, the founder and CEO of Fliqz when he hired me back in early 2007 (I left the company in June of last year). Fliqz made it easy for businesses to integrate online video into their websites with simple to use uploading, encoding, management, analytics, and playback video content tools."

Although, recently Fliqz experienced trouble raising additional funding and just wasn’t successful competing with with other larger companies, like Brightcove, Ooyala and Kaltura for VC funding. Wayne will not be staying with VBrick but according to Drey and also Ryan Lawler and Fliqz's future still looks promising. VBrick will invest $1 million into Fliqz to help integrate and build out the product offering. VBrick has also renewed the lease of Fliqz’s offices in Emeryville, CA. Fliqz will remain open and continue function temporarily as its own business unit for the next several months as its staff of 20 are retrained and folded into VBrick. Jim O'Neil spoke with VBrick CEO Doug Howard who said that, "Fliqz CEO Benjamin Wayne will help guide the transition and is expected to remain onboard for at least the next three months." VBrick currently has 9000 customers in the corporate, government and education sector and according to Howard, Fliqz will add less than $5 million in annual revenue to VBrick's estimated $45 million.

It's been a busy M&A season within the OVP space within and as Drey said expect to see more changes ahead:

"We expect to see further merger and acquisition activity in online video this year and will keep you posted on what it means for the industry. January and February have definitely set a trend pointing towards more focused and specialized business plans and product offerings."

Disclosure: Vidcompare is a sponsor of this blog


Related:

• VBrick Systems Acquires Fliqz | Business Wire
• Online Video Platform Summit Monetization Panel - Redefining Monetization
• Online Video Platform Summit: Redefining Monetization
• Online Video Publishing [dot] com: Video SEO is the "Neglected Gold Mine" in the Online Space - Benjamin Wayne, Fliqz
• Benjamin Wayne Of Fliqz On The Importance Of Video SEO
• VBrick Acquires Online Video Platform, Fliqz « Online Video and Video Providers - VidCompare

About VBrick Systems, Inc.
VBrick is the leader in Enterprise IP Video, with over 9,000 corporate, education and government customers and 60,000 installations worldwide.  VBrick solutions work over standard IP networks and the Internet to enable the creation, publishing and distribution of rich media content. Our comprehensive streaming solutions are used in a wide range of live and on-demand applications including meeting and event broadcasts, employee collaboration, distributed learning, digital signage, TV distribution, and video surveillance.  Headquartered in Wallingford, CT, VBrick’s products and services are available through industry-leading value-added resellers.  In purchasing the Fliqz assets, VBrick did not assume any liability, debt or obligation of Fliqz except to the limited extent specifically agreed and specified.  For more information, visit www.vbrick.com.

If You Publish It, Will They Come?

You can have the most compelling content in the world, but if people aren't aware of it and can't find it easily, it won't make any difference. From search engine optimization to social media marketing, there are myriad strategies for getting your content in front of as many people as possible. At the Online Video Platform Summit, we've assembled some of the brightest minds in online video search and discovery, social media optimization, and entertainment on our panel session, "If You Publish It, Will They Come?" to examine the art and science of getting your videos seen. This session is one you don't want to miss!

Confirmed speakers for this session include:

Mark Robertson, Founder, ReelSEO (Moderator)
Mark Robertson is the Founder and Creator of ReelSEO.com, The Online Video Marketer's Guide, which provides news, tips and trends on the online video industry and video marketing. Mark speaks regularly at conferences, webinars and industry events sharing his extensive experience in online marketing, particularly in Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Mark was previously the Director of Search for Freedom Communications and has worked with many newspaper and broadcast stations for optimization online content.

Frank Sinton, CEO, MeFeedia
Mr. Sinton is responsible for product development, communications, advertising and media functions at MeFeedia. Before founding BeachFront Media, LLC/MeFeedia.com Mr. Sinton spearheaded the strategic technology vision at Sony Pictures Entertainment and was largely responsible for the search engine that powered the successful startup of Business.com ($340 million acquisition). Mr. Sinton is also the founder of Gotkidsnetwork.com, a parents social networking site. He received his B.S.in Chemical Engineering from Tufts University.

Mike Sommers, EVP of Products, KickApps
As Executive Vice President of Product Management, Mike oversees all of KickApps’ product management efforts. He has over 15 years experience building Internet products. Before joining KickApps, Mike was VP of Product Development for AOL Search. In his 7 years at AOL, he was also responsible developing a variety of rich media, search and community products. Prior to joining AOL Mike worked for a variety of Silicon Alley startups in New York City.
Mike has a B.A. degree from Columbia University

Patrick Starzan, VP of Marketing, Funny or Die
Funny or Die, www.funnyordie.com, is an award-winning website that has become one of the top destinations for comedy on the web. The site has averages over 5 million unique video views per month. With hundreds of exclusive celebrity videos and a steady stream of huge viral hits, Funny or Die has become the "place to be seen" for comedic celebrities, and the obvious destination for a daily comedy fix. Funny or Die's founders are Will Ferrell, Adam McKay and Chris Henchy. Mr. Apatow is also a partner in Funny or Die


Adam Singolda, CEO and Founder, Taboola
As the chief executive officer of Taboola, Adam Singolda is leading the company business strategy, execution, and business development, while maintaining a unique company culture of competitiveness, quantitativeness, and innovation. Prior to founding Taboola, Adam served as an officer in a mathematical elite unit in the Israeli National Security Agency (I-NSA) for almost seven years. Adam’s focus in the unit was data-mining and “unsolvable problems.” His background uniquely prepares him to lead Taboola’s efforts toward technological advantage that focuses on scale and quantifiable value to publishers, advertisers and users. Adam is an honored alum of the IDF's elite "Mamram" computer-science training program, and he finished first in his class in the officer's academy of the IDF. Adam's vision for Taboola is to change the way people around the world discover the videos they like no matter where they are.

The Online Video Platform Summit is a two-day event designed to help organizations of all types, not just those for whom video is their core business. Held on November 2-3 in conjunction with Streaming Media West in Los Angeles, the Online Video Platform Summit is designed for video publishers of all types and sizes, whether small businesses looking to publish content for the first time, independent entertainment content creators, large media organizations, or anywhere in between. You can register online  for the OVP Summit or Streaming Media West show and get $300 off Streaming Media West with the discount code of DRF1.