Innovid, a video advertising startup, has raised $9.5 million round led by Sequoia Capital with Genesis Partners and T-Ventures (Deutsche Telecom) participating in the round. As part of the funding round, Sequoia partner Gili Raanan will join Innovid’s Board of Directors. This investment brings Innovid’s total funding to $17 million.
Innovid develops an interactive pre-roll advertising product, called iRoll, that allows advertisers to turn any existing pre-roll video ad into an interactive one. And users are encouraged to click and perform mouse gestures with the interactive ads to gain further information.
The company also offers an ad server and analytics platform Dynamo, which provides video serving and deeper analytics for brands. Innovid’s platform has been integrated across hundreds of the video publishers and every major video ad network, according to the company.
Founder and CEO Zvika Netter tells me that iRoll is seeing CTRs of 5 percent, which is fairly high in the video advertising industry. He adds that the company is growing 100 percent each quarter.
Innovid has integrated iRoll in campaigns for a number of high-profile brands including Kraft, Buick, Hyundai, Disney Pictures, and Sony. And the startup’s publishers include 80% of the webs top video publishers including partnerships with NBC, MTV, Fox, and Tremor Media.
Raanan says this of Sequoia’s investment in Innovid: The growth in online video consumption and advertising is staggering. We identified Innovid as a true technology leader in the industry with unparalleled integration into the distribution channels of video publishers & ad networks.
The new funding be will used towards product development and international expansion (the startup plans to open an office in London later this year).