QuickPlay gets $12M funding round for mobile video

By Dan Butcher

July 15, 2009

QuickPlay cultivates the mobile video ecosystem

Mobile video provider QuickPlay Media Inc. has closed a private placement for $12 million led by GMP Securities L.P.

The funding included participation from existing venture capital partners General Catalyst Partners, JLA Ventures and Ventures West. The new investment will support the continued development of QuickPlay's OpenVideo platform and associated services, including PrimeTime2Go.

"This new round of funding will allow the company to accelerate development efforts and further capitalize on the momentum it has generated in recent months," said Tina Kaichis, director of marketing communications and partner marketing for QuickPlay, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

"QuickPlay supports a number of payment models for its services, including pay-per-download, subscription and ad-supported," she said. "PrimeTime2Go and Sirius XM for iPhone are both premium monthly subscription-based services."

GMP Capital Inc. carries on business through the following principal entities: GMP Securities L.P., Griffiths McBurney Corp., GMP Securities Europe LLP, GMP Private Client L.P., EdgeStone Capital Partners L.P. and GMP Investment Management L.P.

Making QuickPlay of video

QuickPlay Media's carrier clients include Alltel, RIM, Bell, Cricket, Rogers, Sprint, Telus, Virgin Mobile India and AT&T.

All of QuickPlay's services are based on its OpenVideo platform, which connects an ecosystem of more than 150 content providers, 15 carriers and powers audio and video products that reach more than 100 million subscribers.

Sirius XM Radio's application for Apple's iPhone and iPod touch is the latest service powered by QuickPlay.

Sirius XM Radio follows QuickPlay's most recently announced deployment, the PrimeTime2Go premium mobile TV service, which features content from leading networks including ABC, CBS, NBC, MTV, NBC, the Disney Channel, ESPN and the Discovery Channel.

PrimeTime2Go lets consumers set their devices to automatically deliver full episodes of TV programs as they become available (see story).

Mobile television and video services will continue to grow at a steady pace, with the most popular categories being news, sports and music, according to a study by QuickPlay Media (see story).

"QuickPlay's solutions enable mobile operators and media companies to easily offer a wide range of high-quality mobile TV, video and audio services, including live TV, streaming video, clips and full-length downloads," Ms. Kaichis said.

"Key components across all of the company's solutions are ingestion, transformation, management and distribution of content, measurement and reporting of analytics," she said.